BALD COOT, 209 
Adult male-—Entire back, scapulars, tail, and the greater portion of the wings 
greenish-black, with a slight glossy tinge ; lesser wing-coverts ultramarine-blue, like 
the outer webs of the bastard-wing ; marginal coverts, inner webs of the bastard- 
wing, primary-coverts, and quills black ; lores, fore-part of the cheeks, occiput, and 
hind-neck also black ; hinder neck, throat, entire breast, sides of the body, under 
wing-coverts, and flanks purplish-blue ; middle of abdomen black ; under tail- 
coverts pure white; axillaries black, some tipped with blue; quills below glossy 
black ; bill and frontal plate red ; iris red ; tarsi and feet dusky-red. Total length 
500 mm. ; culmen and frontal plate 69, wing 266, tail 110, tarsus 95. 
Aduli female.—Similar in colour but the plumage duller and the size smaller. 
Immature.—Upper-surface blackish-brown, the wing-coverts first showing the 
bluish colouring, the under-surface paler brown, the chin palest, the breast dull 
bluish-brown, and the abdomen fulvous-brown; the under tail-coverts dirty 
yellowish-white ; iris brown ; bill brownish, reddish towards the base and the 
small frontal plate ; legs dark reddish-brown. 
Immature (younger, half-fledged)—Upper-surface blackish-brown, the feathers 
edged with pale brown, the scapulars and wing-coverts showing a tinge of blue ; all 
under-surface pale dusky-brown, the breast feathers with pale bluish tips, the vent 
feathers fulvous. 
Nestling in down.—Covered with dense black down, the head, neck, wings and 
back tipped with white lines, which are in reality sheaths of the down, and which 
soon fall off ; bill greyish-white, black at the tip; legs dull slate-grey ; in a few 
days the chick is wholly black ; bill, helmet and feet light red. 
Nest.— Bulky, carelessly built of dry and green reeds, which had been apparently 
crushed and softened between the bird’s bill. Situated on the top of tussocks of 
grass, in shallow water ; sometimes ten feet from the bank. Outside measurements, 
14 inches from top to bottom, and sixteen inches wide; egg cavity nine by four 
inches. 
Eggs.—Clutch, three to five; smooth and slightly glossy ; ground-colour sandy- 
buff, blotched and spotted with chestnut over the entire surface, with underlying 
spots of lead-grey ; axis 48-49 mm., diameter 35-36. Tasmanian eggs are larger, 
and more boldly marked ; axis 50-53.5, diameter 35-37 mm, 
Breeding-season.—August to November. (Tasmania, Victoria, etc.) January 
and February. (Queensland.) 
Distribution and forms.—From the Moluccas through New Guinea, Australia, 
save the south-west, Tasmania, New Zealand, and the Chatham Islands, and appar- 
ently the western islands of the Pacific Ocean. The extra-limital forms are as 
usual imperfectly known, and no advance seems to have been made since Mathews’s 
studies in 1911, when he suggested investigation as below ; the Australian subspecies 
are three in number, but probably more will be later recognised—these are: P. m. 
melanotus Temminck from Eastern Australia; P. m. fletchere Mathews, from 
Tasmania, a larger form with the wing measuring 300 mm. against 275 of the typical 
race, but showing the same coloration ; and P. m. neomelanotus Mathews, from the 
North-west of Australia, about the same size as the typical form, but with the under 
coloration ultramarine or cobalt rather than purple, the colour on the upper-breast 
and throat brighter than on the flanks and lower-breast. The Neozelanic bird is a 
brighter purple below, tending to verditer on the upper-breast, and may be called 
P. m. stanleyi Rowley (the name given to an albino specimen apparently received 
from New Zealand, which is famed for its albinistic specimens), and Sharpe called 
the Chatham Island form, on account of the verditer tinge all through the breast, 
P. chathamensis, but this seems to be a feature of mainland birds also at certain 
growth stages ; the Samoan form has been called P. samoensis, the Fijian P. vitiensis, 
the one from the Pelew Islands P. pelewensis, the form inhabiting the New Hebrides 
P. aneitewnensis, and the New Guinea bird P. melanopterus, all of these appearing: 
Ly 
