W. GILLION 1950 Fulica Americana 285 Apr 8 Lake Temescal +20ft, Alameda Co., Calif - and was answered with a couple of puffs by her mate at L5. The nest at P/6.2 is well built up, has a nice cup but lacks also a ramp. It is about ready for eggs, unless the nest seen today for the first time at Q 22.13 gets tthem. The structure at Q 23.11 is in complete dis-repair. The presence of dead and green cat-tails in a little cove at K 9.3 on the island looks to be more than coincidence, since the M pair are going to have difficulty establishing a nest elsewhere in their newly cleared area. Q does not seem to be a sociable bird, in fact the only times we've seen it were when it was feeding in the Picnic Area. -> Lake Merritt, s.e. Oakland, Alameda Co., Calif - The population seems considerably thinned out as far as most ducks are concerned, but there still seems to be a fair Coot population. Nearly all the birds present have swollen shields and also a very high percentage of yellow legs. One pinned bird seen but I couldn't get a fix on it. Many of these birds seem to have yellow on the shield in addition to the brown. One pinned bird had a horizontal pin with a wired dangling.