COOT. 515 
Sub-family Fuuictnm. Coots. 
Body rather depressed, plumage compact, tarsus shorter than middie toe. All toes 
lobate, furnished with membranous flaps. Aquatic. 
GENUS FULICA. Linneeus. 
Characters of the sub-family. 
FuLicA AMERICANA Gm. 
Coot. 
Fulica americana, WHEATON, Ohio Agric. Rep. for 1860, 369; Reprint, 1861, 11; Food of 
Birds, ete., Ohio Agric. Rep. for 1874, 573; Reprint, 1875, 13.—Lanepon, Cat. Birds 
of Cin,, 1877, 16; Revised List, Journ. Cin. Soc. Nat. Hist., i, 1879, 184; Reprint, 18 ; 
Summer Birds, ib., iii, 1880, 228. 
Fulica americana, GMELIN, Syst. Nat., i, 1788, 704, 
Dark slate, paler or grayish below, blackening on the head and neck, tinged with 
olive on the back; crissum, whole edge of wing, and top of the secondaries white ; bill 
white or flesh-colored, marked with reddish-black near the end; feet dull olivaceous; 
young similar, paler and duller. Length, about 14; wing, 7-8; tail, 2; bill from the 
gape, 14-14; tarsus, about 2; middle toe and claw, about 3. 
Habitat, Temperate North America. Alaska. Greenland. .Mexico. West Indies. 
Central America. 
e 
Abundant spring and fall migrant in all parts of the State, most fre- 
quently seen in spring, and very common summer resident in extensive 
Swamps or weedy lakes. This bird forms the connecting link 
between the Rails and Gallinules and the swimming birds proper. It 
has the general structure of the birds of its family so modified that it is 
more aquatic in habit than any of them, being better adapted for swim- 
ming and diving than for locomotion on land. They are considered a 
nuisance by sportsmen and a fraud by amateurs who sometimes mistake 
them for ducks. | 
In this vicinity they are abundantin March and April, especially when 
the streams are full, and again in early fall they frequent reedy and 
weedy marshes, where their presence might not be suspected, so dense 
is the cover. Butif a stone or stick be thrown into the rushes, an instant 
alarm is sounded, and the cackle of countless Mud Hens, as they are 
commonly called, is heard from all parts of the marsh. 
The nest of the Mud Hen is built near or on the water. The eggs are 
ten or twelve in number, clay-colored, uniformly dotted with dark brown. 
They measure about 2.00 by 1.25. 
