208 A MANUAL OF THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
with white; bill yellowish-green; iris ruby; tarsi and feet yellowish. Total 
length 509 mm. ; culmen, including frontal shield, 40, wing 187, tail 95, tarsus 78. 
Adult female-—Similar to the adult male but very slightly smaller. Total 
length 502 mm ; culmen 39, wing 185, tail 95, tarsus 77. 
Immature male—tIs distinguished from the adult in being paler brown on the 
head, grey on the hind-neck and mantle, and having the lower back washed with 
grey. The chief distinction is the white marks on the wing-coverts, which are pear 
shaped, and as the bird advances in age, become narrow streaks, and finally disappear 
when the adult plumage is attained ; the white margins to the feathers of the lower 
flanks are also much more strongly pronounced. 
Nestling (ten days old) —Covered with black down, with a white spot on each 
side of the flank ; ear-coverts silver-grey. 
Young (three weeks old)—Olive-brown above ; tail black; head streaked with 
black ; chin white, throat streaked with blackish and grey ; sides of the neck grey ; 
a stripe of blackish-brown down the middle of the under-surface, on both sides of 
which is grey ; the tuft of feathers on the side buff. 
Nest.—Usually placed on the bank of a stream or lagoon. Made of tussocks 
pulled up by the roots and tramped down by the birds’ feet, lined with soft reeds. 
Eggs.—Clutch, six to nine ; smooth and slightly glossy ; stone colour, minutely 
spotted with chestnut over the entire surface, with bolder blotching of the same 
colour and paler underlying markings, sparsely distributed ; axis 59mm., diameter 
39 to 41. 
Breeding-season.—September, October, and November. 
Distribution and forms.—Confined to Tasmania and therefore no subspecies. 
Genus PORPHYRIO. 
Porphyrio Brisson, Ornith., Vol. I., p. 54, Vol. V., p. 522, 1760. Type (by tautonymy) : 
Porphyrio = Fulica porphyrio Linné. 
Cesarornis Reichenbach, Nat. Syst. Végel, p. xxI., 1852 (? 1853). Type (by original 
designation): Gallinula poliocephala Latham. 
Birds generally larger than the species of Gallinula, with a short, high, and 
strongly curved, compressed bill, and the frontal shield very large. Nostrils oval 
or rounded, pervious; no nasal groove, but a shallow depression only. Wings 
short and rounded ; toes very long, the middle toe with claw exceeding the tarsus 
in length ; no lateral membranes or lobes to the toes. The tarsus is covered with 
horizontal scutes in front and behind with scarcely a row between on the sides ; 
the hind-toe is long as in Gallinula ; the claws are long and little curved ; the tibia 
is exposed for nearly one-third the length of the tarsus and is scutellate in front 
and behind with reticulation between. 
The tail is rather long, composed of twelve rather broad feathers and square, 
less than half the length of the rounded wings which have the second primary 
longest. 
144. Porphyrio melanotus.—BALD COOT. 
Gould, Vol. VI., pl. 69 (pt. xxx.), March Ist, 1848. Mathews, Vol. I., pt. 5, pl. 60, Oct. 31st, 
1911. 
Porphyrio melanotus Temminck, Manuel d’Orn, 2¢ ed., Vol. II., p. 701, Oct. 21st, 1820: 
“ Australia’? = New South Wales. 
Porphyrio melanotus fletchere Mathews, Birds Austr., Vol. I., pt. 5, p. 243, Oct. 31st, 1911: 
Tasmania. 
Porphyrio melanotus neomelanotus Mathews, %b., p. 246, pl. 60: Parry’s Creek, North-west 
Australia. 
DIsTRIBUTION.—Australia (except South-west) and Tasmania, 
