[170.] 1. F ulica A m er ica na. (G m elin.) American Coot.
Genus, Fulica, Linn.
Common Coot (Fulica atra). Wils., ix., p. 61, pi. 73, f. 1.
Fulica Americana. (Gmel.) Sab. Frankl. Journ., p. 690. Bonap. Cat., No, 270.
Whiskeychawn-weesheep. Cree Indians.
The small grassy lakes that skirt the Saskatchewan plains are much frequented
by this Coot, which in its manners exactly resembles the closely allied European
species*. It was not seen by us near Hudson’s Bay, nor higher than the fifty-
fifth parallel. Mr. Swainson has obtained specimens from the Table-land of
Mexico. It is observed to arrive in the fur-countries always in the night-time.
The crops of those we killed were filled with fine sand.
DESCRIPTION
Of a male, killed on the Saskatchewan, May 13, 1827»
Colour.—Head and neck velvet-black. Fore part of the back, scapulars, and wing
coverts blackish-grey; tertiaries, tips of the scapulars, rump, and tail coverts, clove-brown,
with a greenish-tinge. Quills, tail, and vent pitch-black ; tips of the secondaries and under
tail coverts white. Under plumage lead-grey. Bill pale horn colour, with a chestnut ring
near its tip ; frontal callus dead white, terminating superiorly in a rhomboidal chestnut-
coloured spot. Legs dull bluish-green.
Form typical. Wings as long as the rounded or graduated tail, which consists of fourteen
feathers f .
Dimensions
Of the male.
Length, total 16 6 Length of bill to rictus . 1
Lin.
5 Length of middle nail . 0
Lin,
,, of tail • . 7 2 0 , „ of naked thigh . 0 9 „ of hind toe . . 0 11 ,v of wing . 7 6 j, of tarsus . . 2 1 „ of its nail . . 0 4
„ of bill and callus 2 0 „ of middle toe « . 2 11
Other males are upwards of an inch shorter than the preceding, and they vary in the
extent and depth of the blackish-grey of the dorsal aspect.—R.
* Mr. Sabine gives in detail the specific differences between the two, in the work above cited,
f Cuvier says that the tail contains sixteen feathers; but in a considerable number of specimens which I examined,
I found but fourteen, and in some instances only ten or twelve.—R.