116 INDIAN SPORTING BIRDS 



great beauty, the azure, cobalt, and sea-green plumage being 

 finely set off by the scarlet bill, forehead and legs, and the white 

 under the tail. Some specimens have grey heads, but the 

 presence or absence of this hoary colouring is individual. The 

 bird is often called purple moorhen or coot, but differs from both 

 in several points besides size and colour, notably in the great 

 thickness of the beak, with which it can give a very severe bite, 

 and in the curious habit, so remarkable in a waterfowl, of using 

 its foot to hold its food, chiefly vegetable — like a parrot. 

 Although always found near water, it does not swim much, 

 and has the true rail love for cover ; it perches freely and climbs 

 well among the reeds. 



It is found all over our Empire, and of late years has even 

 been recorded as far west as the Caspian ; it is resident, and 

 nests during the rains ; the eggs are about the same size as the 

 coot's, but richer in colour, having a reddish tinge both in 

 ground-colour and spots. The other Hindustani names of this 

 favourite bird, which is not usually shot, though many specimens 

 are sent to Europe alive, are all apparently variants of that given 

 above — Khima, Kharim, and Kalim ; in Ceylon the names are 

 Indula, Kukula, Sannary, and Kittala. 



Watcr-cock. 



Gallicrex cinereus. Kora, Hindustani. 



The water-cock, as it is to be met with in the shooting- 

 season, is a game-looking bird with light brown plumage, 

 diversified by streaks on the back, and bars on the under-parts 

 of a darker shade. It has the usual long legs and toes of a rail, 

 and a leaf-shaped bare patch on the forehead. Although much 

 lighter in build, the male is nearly as big as a coot, the hen being 

 little larger than a moorhen — a sex difference and unique among 

 the rails, as i^ also the male's assumption of a striking nuptial 

 dress ; in this attire he is of dull black on the head, neck, and 

 under-parts, while the bare patch on his forehead, which, like the 

 legs, is red, swells up until it becomes at the end a pointed horn. 

 The female has legs of a dusky green. 



