366 GALLINULINE. 
lower parts of the cheeks, chin, and throat, pale ccerulean-blue, 
more or less edged with purplish-grey, and passing into the purer 
blue of the lower neck and breast; abdomen, sides of the body 
and vent abruptly deep purple; the thigh-coverts dull blue; 
under tail-coverts pure white ; lower wing-coverts dull pale blue ; 
quills and tail beneath glossy blackish. 
The Purple Coot occurs abundantly in all suitable localities, 
throughout the region. It is a permanent resident, breeding from 
July to September; the nest is composed of grass and weeds, 
heaped together, with a central depression ; it is generally float- 
ing, but occasionally it is found on the ground, in a dense patch 
of grass or reeds. 
The eggs, eight or ten in number, are oval in shape, but they 
vary somewhat. The ground color of the egg, when fresh, is 
a pure salmon or pinkish-stone color, but they rapidly fade. 
The markings consist of spots, streaks, and blotches of rich red 
color, with underlying clouds of pale purple. They have no 
loss. 
2 They measure 1°93 inches in length by about 1°39 in breadth. 
Genus, Fulica, Zin. 
Bill moderate or short, thick; the upper mandible gradually 
deflected, compressed, extending backwards into a horny shield on 
the forehead ; nostrils small, placed in the middle of the bill ; wings 
short, concave, with a tubercle at the flexure ; second and third 
quils longest; tail very short; tarsus moderate, compressed ; 
toes very long, bordered-by a wide lobed membrane ; claws short, 
curved and sharp. 
Plumage dense, soft, but open in texture. 
Fulica atra, Zin. 
903.—Jerdon’s Birds of India, Vol. II, p. 715; Butler, Guzerat ; 
Stray Feathers, Vol. IV, p. 20; Deccan, Stray Feathers, Vol. 
IX, p. 431; Murray’s Vertebrate Zoology of Sind, p. 261; 
Swinhoe and Barnes, Central India ; Ibis, 1885, p. 135. 
THE BALD Coor. 
Length, 15 to 16; wing, 7°75 ; tail, 2 ; bill at gape, 1-4. 
Bill dead white in winter, tinged slightly with rosy in the 
breeding season; frontal disc white ; irides biood-red ; feet dull 
green, with a garter of yellow green and red above the joint in 
summer. 
Head and neck deep black ; upper plumage greyish-black ; below 
the same, with an ashy tinge. 
The Common Coot occurs abundantly throughout the region. 
It is a permanent resident, making a large nest of reeds 
and rushes, in water a foot or so deep; the nest is based upon 
the ground, but rises several inches above the water level. 
Occasionally they are built upon the ground close to the waters 
