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Range (Temperate and tropical America) (III)

Temperate and tropical America; breeds locally as far north as Minnesota and southern Maine; winters from the Gulf States southward. Washington, rare T. V., Apl.; Aug. to Oct. Long Island, uncommon T. V., May; Sept. and Oct. Sing Sing, rare S. R., June 5 to Nov. 5. Cambridge, uncommon S. R., May 10 to Oct. 1. Nest, of rushes on a bed of rushes or similar slight elevation in marshes, lagoons, or swampy lake sides. Eggs, eight to thirteen, buffy white or ochraceous-buff, spotted and speckled with rufous-brown, 1.80 × 1.25. There is something about the appearance and habits of Gallinules which always suggests to me the thought that they are chickens who RAILS, GALLINULES, AND COOTS. for unknown reasons have been forced to adopt the ways of both Coots and Rails. Indeed, now I think of it, the names Water-hen and Moorhen are applied to near relatives of our bird. They frequent marshy, reed- or bush-grown shores of ponds and lakes, walking gracefully through the tangled vegetation. Their flight is short and, like a Rail, with dangling legs they drop awkwardly to the ground. They swim readily, and when on the water resemble a Coot, though they are by no means so aquatic. Their notes are loud and varied, and during the nesting season they are unusually noisy. Their common note is a loud, explosive chuck; other calls are suggestive of the barnyard, and remind one of the protest of a disturbed brooding hen or even the squawking of a struggling fowl. In The Auk, vol. viii, pages 1-7, Mr. Brewster gives a detailed account of his study of a pair of Gallinules. 221. Fulica americana Gmel. AMERICAN COOT; MUD-HEN; CROW DUCK; BLUE PETER. (See Fig. 22, e.) Ad.-Head and neck blackish; rest of the plumage dark, bluish slate-color, paler below; edge of the wing, tips of the secondaries, and under tail-coverts white; bill whitish, two spots near its tip and crown plate brownish; legs and feet greenish; toes with scalloped flaps. Im. Similar, but much whiter below, a slight brownish wash above; crown plate much smaller. Downy young. - Blackish, white below; throat and upper parts with numerous bright orange hairlike feathers; lores red; bill red, tipped with black. L., 15.00; W., 7.50; Tar., 2.25; B. from posterior margin of nostril, 80.