POKPHYE10. 385 



number of eggs that I have as yet found in any nest, and I have 

 repeatedly taken seven and eight well-incubated ones. 



Dr. Jerdon says that the Purple Coot " makes a large nest of 

 grass, rice-stalks, and the like, at the edge of the water, and lays 

 six or eight eggs of a reddish or buff ground, with numerous small 

 dark red and purplish spots." 



From Saugor Mr. F. E. Blewitt wrote : " This Coot breeds 

 from June to September. It makes its nest near to the edge of the 

 water in the low rushes or amongst the lotus-leaves." 



From Sind Mr. Scrope Doig tells us: "The Purple Coot is 

 very numerous, and all begin to lay about the first week in August.' 7 



Colonel Butler writes : " I found a great many nests of the 

 Purple Coot at Milana, 18 miles E. of Deesa, in August and Sep- 

 tember. In most instances they were built in large beds of dense 

 bulrushes, but in many cases I found them in tussocks of coarse 

 grass growing out in the water or in dead stick fences overgrown 

 with high grass which had become submerged in the rains, some 

 were placed at the foot of low stumpy trees growing out in the 

 water. In height they varied from 1 foot to 3 feet above the level of 

 the water. The nest, which is nothing but a large edition of the 

 nest of G. cliloropus, consists of a massive heap of sedge and rushes 

 firmly put together, with a slight depression at the top for the 

 eggs." 



Mr. H. Parker, writing of this bird in North-west Ceylon, says : 

 " January and February. In Ceylon the Coots do not breed simul- 

 taneously ; young birds, eggs in all stages of incubation, and partly 

 built nests are found in the same tank. In some cases the eggs 

 are laid at considerable intervals ; I have met with a nestling, 

 partly incubated eggs of different ages, and fresh eggs in the same 

 nest. According to my experience six is the maximum number of 

 eggs laid." 



Colonel AV. V. Legge remarks of this species : " It breeds in 

 Ceylon in February, March, and April, nesting on the ground near 

 tanks and swamps." 



Mr. Gates, writing from Pegu, says : " I procured one nest with 

 eggs in August." 



The eggs of this species vary very much in size, the cubic con- 

 tents of some being fully double that of others. Normally they 

 are, I think, broad and perfect ovals, obtuse at both ends, not un- 

 like a hen's egg in shape ; but some are much more pointed towards 

 one end, and considerably elongated varieties occur. The eggs are 

 of much the same size as, and closely resemble those of, the Euro- 

 pean Purple Gallinule. 



When fresh, the ground-colour varies from a pale pinkish stone 

 to a beautiful pure-salmon pink, but the rosy tint disappears rapidly, 

 and after they have been some years in the cabinet few of them 

 exhibit any traces of it. 



"Writing, with a lot of fresh unblown eggs before me, many 

 years ago, I see I said : " The eggs vary a good deal in the ground- 

 colour, some being greener and others pinker. They also vary a good 



YOL. in. 25 



