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NATURAL HISTORY. 



FULICA. (I, at.) 



Atra (Lat. black), the Coot. 



The COOT much resembles the water-hen in its habits. It 

 is usually found in large sheets of water, particularly if shel- 

 tered by trees. The nest is a huge mass of flags, reeds, and 

 grass, usually at the water's edge, but sometimes actually in 

 the water.* In the nest are from seven to ten greenish white 

 eggs, spotted with brown. 



THE FLAMINGO. 



The FLAMINGO is an inhabitant of the warmer parts of 

 Europe, and is common in Asia and the coasts of Africa. The 

 singularly shaped beak of this splendid bird is peculiarly 

 adapted to its long and flexible neck. When the bird wishes 

 to feed, it merely stoops its head to the water ; the upper 

 mandible is then lowest, and is well fitted to receive the 

 nutritive substances which are entangled in a filter placed on 

 the edges of the beak, much resembling the analogous apparatus 

 of the whale. 



The Flamingo frequents marshes, lakes, and mouths of 

 rivers, bidding defiance to the pestilent exhalations that drive 



* In 1849 I took five Coots' eggs from a nest situated at the Reservoir near Swin- 

 don. The nest was nearly fifty yards from the bank, and was made on a very small 

 sunken hillock, in three feet water. 



