636 RALLID^E. 



not believe they are anywhere as numerous as on the Munchur Lake, where 

 among the rushes, they are with the Bald Coot simply innumerable. 



Breeds in the Province from May to September, making a nest of rushes, 

 &c., in the reedy grass. Eggs prettily marked on a greenish ground with 

 spots, blotches and streaks of a reddish colour, lake red or rich red. 



Gen. Fulica. 



Bill moderate ; nostrils lateral ; casque small ; wing with a tubercle at the 

 shoulder ; tail short ; toes with lobate membrane. 



Fulica atra. 



1321. Fulica atra, Linn., Syst. Nat. I, p. 257; Jerd. t B. Ltd. iii. 

 p. 715 ; Hume, Str. F. i. p. 249; id., Nests and Eggs p. 595 ; Blyth, B. Burm. 

 p. 162; War dl aw -Ramsay, Ibis, 1887^.472; Dresser, B. Eur. vii.p. 327; 

 Murray, Vert. ZooL, Sind, p. 261; Oates, B. Br. Burm. ii. p. 352. The 

 BALD COOT. 



Upper plumage black; hoary, dark ash, lead colour or dusky brown below; 

 a spot below the eye, and the outer edge of the wings white ; frontal disc or 

 casque white; also the bill, which in the breeding season is tinged pale red; 

 irides blood red ; legs dull green, with a yellow, green, and red garter in the 

 breeding season. 



Length. 15 to 16 inches; wing 7*5 to 775; tail 2 ; bill at gape 1*41. 



Hob. Throughout India, Ceylon and British Burmah ; also Europe (central 

 and south), Egypt, Assam, Nepaul, Persia, Beloochistan and Afghanistan. In 

 Sind it is numerous in suitable localities, but on the Munchur Lake, as Mr. 

 Hume says (SVr. F. vol. i. 249) "they would have to be counted not by 

 thousands, but by hundreds of thousands. * * * You can shoot nothing 

 without knocking over some of these wretched coots." He also adds " that 



