564 BRITISH BIRDS. 
FULICA ATRA. 
COMMON COOT. 
(PLatE 23.) 
Fulica fulica, 
Fulica major, 
Fulica atra, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 257 (1766) ; et auctorum plurimorum—Latham, 
Temminck, Naumann, Degland § Gerbe, Dresser, Saunders, &c. 
Fulica aterrima, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 258 (1766). 
Fulica fuliginosa, 
Fulica albiventris, 
} Sparrm. Mus. Carls. pls. 12,13 (1786). 
} Briss. Orn. vi. pp. 23, 28 (1760). 
} Scop. Ann. I. Hist. Nat. pp. 104, 105 (1769). 
Fulica leucoryx, 
Fulica eethiops, 
Fulica atrata, } hes 
 Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat. ii. pp. 12 96), 
Folica pullate, Pall, Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat. ii. pp. 158, 159 (1826) 
Fulica platyuros, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 711 (1881). 
Fulica lugubris, Sal. Mill. Verh. Naturl. Gesch. Nederl. Bezxitt. iii. p. 454 (1839-44). 
Fulica australis, Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1845, p. 2. 
Fulica atra japonica, Temm. & Schl. Faun. Japon. p. 120, pl. Ixxvi. (1847). 
Fulica cinereicollis, MacClell. fide Geb. Thes. Orn. ii. p. 211 (1875). 
The Coot, although not quite so common as the Waterhen, and rather 
more local, is found in the neighbourhood of slow-running streams, lakes, 
and ponds throughout the British Islands. It is a resident on the Outer 
Hebrides and the Orkneys, but is only an accidental visitor to the Shet- 
lands, as it also is to the Channel Islands. The Coot is a resident bird in 
this country, but in severe weather it often shifts its quarters from the 
inland waters to the coast. 
The Coot is almost as cosmopolitan as the Waterhen, but the American 
and South-African forms appear to be specifically distinct. It passes the 
~ Faroe Islands regularly on migration, is an accidental visitor to Iceland, 
and has once been obtained in Greenland. In Scandinayia and West 
Russia it breeds up to lat. 60°, and occurs accidentally further north. In 
the Ural Mountains it is found in lat. 57°, and in West Siberia in lat. 55°. 
In East Siberia it is a summer visitor to Lake Baikal and the valley of .. 
the Amoor. It is a summer visitor to East Mongolia, North China, 
and the north island of Japan; but is a resident in the main island 
of Japan, South China, and Formosa. It is not known that the Coots 
inhabiting Australia and Java belong to a distinct’ species. It is a 
resident throughout Burma, India, and Persia, but is a summer visitor to 
Russian Turkestan, and passes through Afghanistan on migration. In 
Central Europe it is a resident, but in South Europe it is much more 
common in winter than in summer. It is a resident in Asia Minor, 
Palestine, North Africa, and the Azores. It passes the Canaries and 
