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.
GENUS II. FULICA, Linn. COOT.
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.