(RED-FRONTED COOT.)
+Fulica leucopyga+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 140; _iid. P. Z. S._
1868, p. 467; _iid. Ex. Orn._ p. 120; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877, p.
42 (Chupat), et 1878, p. 66 (Buenos Ayres) et p. 402 (Centr.
Patagonia); _Withington, Ibis_, 1888, p. 471 (Lomas de Zamora).
_Description._--Dark cinereous; head and neck black; crissum white,
with a black median patch; bill and frontal shield scarlet; tip of
bill yellow; feet olivaceous: whole length 15·0 inches, wing 6·8,
tail 2·0. _Female_ similar.
_Hab._ Uruguay, Argentina, Chili, and Patagonia.
The want of the white margin to the outer primary and the smaller and
pointed head-shield distinguish this Coot from the preceding species.
From _F. leucoptera_ it may be at once known by the absence of the white
tips to the secondaries.
Durnford found the Red-fronted Coot common, and breeding in the lagoons
north of Buenos Ayres. The nests of this bird and of _F. leucoptera_, he
tells us, are much alike, but those of the present species are perhaps
rather the smaller. "They are formed of reeds, and placed in clumps of
the same, the bottom just above the water. The eggs vary in number from
six to eight, and also differ a good deal in colour. Their ground-colour
is dark greyish brown, finely mottled and streaked with rufous and
darker brown, some of the spots being of a considerable size."