J32 



British Birds. 



ornamental birds, remarkable for their green or blue plumage and their bright red 



bill and legs, are often kept in aviaries, the specimens procured ha\ e doubtless 



been some that had escaped from confinement. 



Althoughofa 

 THE 



COMMON' COOT 



{Fulica atra.) 



blackish colour like the 



Moor-Hen, the Coot is 



a much larger bird, and 

 has the webs of the toes scalloped, so as to 

 form lobes, while the ivory-white frontal 

 shield is also a plainlv visible character 

 when the bird is seen swimming about. 

 It breeds on the lakes and rivers in every 

 part of the British Islands, and occurs in 

 some of our southern harbours in great 

 numbers in winter. It inhabits the whole 

 of Europe and Asia, but does not extend 



to Africa, nor beyond the Indo-Malayan Islands. The Coot is a sh)' bird during 

 the breeding-season, but at other times it ma}' often be seen swimming on any 

 large inland water, where its white frontal shield renders it conspicuous. The nest 

 is substantially built of flags and sedge and is generally found in shallow water 

 among the rushes on the side of a lake. The eggs are seven or eight in number, of 

 a pale claj'-colour dotted with tiny blackish spots and grey underlying ones: the 

 length is about two inches. 



The Common Coot. 



The Pigeons.— ();v/rr Columbifokmes. 



The Pigeons are separated from the other Orders of Birds by several well-marked 

 anatomical characters, especially in the arrangement of their plantar tendons. 

 Their external aspect is too well-known to need further description, and in many 

 points they resemble Game-birds, but they have a difterently shaped bill, the nostrils 

 being pierced in a soft skin near the base. 



