EGGS OF BRITISH BIRDS. 87 



THE WATEE-HEN. 

 (Ga 11 in u la ch lor op us.) 



Plate 22, Fig. 7. 



This species is a very common resident throughout the British 

 Islands, and is distributed over the greater part of the Old World, 

 excepting the Australian region. 



The nest of the Moor-hen, as the species is generally called, is a 

 mass of reeds, sometimes intermixed with flags and coarse grass ; 

 it is loosely put together, but the materials, being moist, soon settle 

 down into a tolerably firm mass. The middle of the nest is more 

 carefully finished than the other parts, and the materials are finer, 

 sometimes dry leaves being used. 



The eggs are from four to ten in number, seven or eight being 

 an average clutch. They are huffish-white or pale reddish- buff in 

 ground-colour, spotted or speckled with reddish-brown and dark 

 grey. The markings are never so numerous as to hide much of 

 the ground-colour, and they generally vary in size from that of a 

 No. 6 shot to that of a speck, but sometimes many of them are 

 as large as a pea. They vary in length from 19 to 155 inch, and 

 in breadth from 13 to 115 inch. An abnormally large egg in 

 my collection measures 2'19 inches in length, and 1'45 inch in 

 breadth. 



THE COMMON COOT. 



(Fulica atra.) 



Plate 22, Fig. 2. 



The Coot, though not so universally distributed as the Water- 

 hen, and rather more local, is to be found in the neighbourhood of 

 slow-running streams, lakes, and ponds, throughout the British 

 Isles. It is found generally throughout the Palaearctic region 

 from Scandinavia to Northern China, wintering somewhat to the 

 southward in India and Burmah. 



The nest is a large bulky structure, sometimes as much as two 

 feet in height, varying according to the depth of the water. In 

 some cases it is a floating structure, anchored safely to the 

 surrounding reeds, or built on a large mass of rushes that have 



