CEYLON RAILS, WADERS, GULLS, AND TERNS. 189 
PoRPHYRIO POLIOCEPHALUS (Blanford, Vol. IV., p. 178 ; 
Legge, p. 795). 
The Purple Moor Hen or Blue Coot. 
Description.—General colour of upper plumage, flanks, and 
abdomen purplish-blue; head and face grayish ; wings and 
chest greenish-blue ; under tail coverts white ; unexposed 
portion of wing and tail feathers black. The bill is stout, the 
nostrils rounded and not situated in a groove, the frontal shield 
is square behind ; both bill and shield bright red ; iris red ; legs 
fleshy red. 
Length 17; wing 10; tail 3°6; tarsus.3°4; bill from gape 
Way 
Distribution —Numerous on the brackish lagoons and 
fresh-water swamps of the South-east Coast, and found locally 
inland on large swampy tanks. Occurs throughout India and 
Burma in suitable situations, and extends westward as far as 
the Caspian Sea. 
Habits —A conspicuous marsh bird with its bright blue 
plumage. Rather heavier in build than most rails, with 
longish legs and bony toes. The flight is awkward, and. in 
flying the legs are extended at full length behind the bird. It 
often swarms in masses of tangled rushes, and when flushed 
takes fairly readily to wing. In the Southern Province it 
breeds freely about February, and again in July. 
The nest varies from a large structure of rushes, &c., 
wedged in bulrush thickets to quite a moderate pad of grass 
on grassy islets or among floating vegetation. 
The eggs, four to eight in number, rather resemble larger 
editions of those laid by the common Moor Hen, being stone 
colour, with fairly bold spots of reddish-brown and paler spots 
of grayish-purple. Average measurements 1°98 by 1°38. 
Note-—The Coot, Fulica atra, a widely distributed member 
of the family, has not yet been recorded authentically from 
Ceylon, but a good lookout should be kept for it. 
The species may easily be distinguished by its slaty-black 
plumage, white bill and shield, and from the fact that the 
toes are furnished with lobed fringes. 
