Fulica americana 40- June 20 Jewel Lake, Tilden Park Contra Costa Co. Calif. At 6:30 pm. I counted 7 young in the area of the south brood and six young with one of the north parents - both south brood parents were seen in addition to the seven try young, but they weren't together. At least five of the seven had white breasts but the back of the necks & head varied from the pattern shown above to one in which the whole back of the neck & top of the head is a very dark gray. The darkening apparently starts at the back of the head and moves down the midline then spreading to either side of the neck. - Just came to my attention that I haven't seen the coots flying clear of the water since March 27. June 21 same locality - Watching the 8 pairs since 10:50 a.m. until now 11:40 a.m. - during most of this entire time both birds have been in view and thus off the nest. For the last 10 minutes only the ♂ has been in sight but I think the ♀ is off N of the South Pond. Now I hear her "poonking" & I can see the male over in the vicinity of the nest. - Shortly after I arrived this morning the S ♂ was seen to chase a ♀ redwing off some low hanging dead branches at 6:11.6 - he made two lunges at her - rising out of the water each time. A little while later the S ♂ closely followed the S ♀ into the opening at 1-6-21-he