Plate CCXLIV.
Frontal plate, eyes, ring on tibiæ, and bill carmine, the latter tipped with yellow; head, neck, and lower parts, greyish-black; abdomen greyish-yellow; lower tail-coverts and some streaks on the sides, with the edge of the wing, and the outer web of the first quill white; upper parts brownish-olive; quills and tail dusky. Female similar, with the frontal plate small. Young similar, but with the bill dull green, and the breast faintly barred with whitish.
Male, 14, 22.
From Texas to South Carolina, common, and resident. Stragglers are seen as far as Massachusetts. Abundant in Louisiana and Florida. Up the Mississippi to Natchez. Fresh water.
Gallinula galeata, Bonap. Amer. Orn. v. iv. p. 128.
Florida Gallinule, Gallinula galeata, Nutt. Man. v. ii. p. 223.
Common Gallinule, Gallinula Chloropus, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. iii. p. 330.
Bill as long as the head, nearly straight, stout, deep, compressed, tapering; upper mandible with a soft ovate or oblong tumid plate at the base, extending over the forehead, the dorsal line declinate, toward the tip arcuate, the ridge narrowed to the middle, then slightly enlarged, the sides nearly erect, the edges sharp, the notches obsolete, the tip rather obtuse; nasal sinus extending nearly to the middle; lower mandible with the angle rather long and narrow, the dorsal line ascending, nearly straight, the sides nearly erect, the tip narrow. Nostrils submedial, lateral, linear, direct. Head small, oblong, compressed; neck of moderate length, slender; body full, compressed. Feet large; tibia bare at the lower part; tarsus stout, of moderate length, compressed, with very broad anterior scutella; hind toe rather small and slender; anterior toes very long, their margins dilated into flat lobes, the hind toe with a single inferior lobe. Claws of moderate length, slightly arched, much compressed, acute. Plumage, blended, soft. Wings short, broad, convex, with the second quill longest. Tail very short, much rounded, of twelve weak feathers; lower coverts nearly as long. Gizzard extremely muscular; cœca very long, being a fifth part of the length of the intestine.
307. 1. Fulica Americana, Gmel. American Coot.—Mud-Hen.