CiRALLATORL'E. 



FuLicA, Driss, 



The true Coots, in addition to a short bill and a large frontal shield, 

 have their toes much widened by a festooned border that renders them 

 excellent swimmers, in consequence of wliicli their lives are passed in 

 ponds and marshes. Their polished plumage is not less adapted to this 

 kind of life than their conformation, and these birds establish an evident 

 link between .the order of the Grallatoriee and that of the Palmipedes, 

 There is but one in Europe. 



F. atra, F. aterrima, and F. cethiops, Gm, ; La Foulque, Enk 

 197, Frisch, 208; Naum. 30, f. 40. (The Coot). The shield of 

 a deep slate colour; edge of the wings whitish; in the nuptial season 

 the shield becomes red: found wherever there is a pond*. 



We shall terminate this' sketch of the Grallatoriaa with three genera, 

 which it is difficult to associate with any other, and which may be consi- 

 dered as forming separately so many small families. 



Chionis, Foster. — Vaginalis, Lath, 



Or the Sheath-Bills. Their legs are short, almost like those of the Gal- 

 linaceffi ; their tarsi scutellated, their bill stout and conical, having a hard 

 substance enveloping its base, which, it appears, the bird has the power 

 of raising and depressing. 



Only one species is known, and that is from New Holland, Vag. 

 Chionis, Lath. Ill, pi, 89, Chionis necrophaga, Vieill. Gal. 258. It 

 is the size of a Partridge, with entirely white plumage. It haunts 

 the sea-coast, where it feeds on the dead animals thrown up by the 

 waves. 



Glareola. 



Tlie bill of the Pratincoles or Sea Partridges is short, conical, arcuated 

 throughout, has a large ^opening, and resembles that of the Gallinaceae. 

 Their excessively long and pointed wings remind us of the Swallows f, or 

 of the Palmipedes of the high seas ; their legs are of a moderate length, 

 their tarsi scutellated, and their external toes somewhat palmated; their 

 thumb touches the ground. Aquatic worms and insects constitute their 

 food. The European species, 



Glar. austriaca, Enl. 882 ; Glar. pmtincola, Leach, Lin. Trans. 

 XIII, pi. xii; Naum. 29, f. 59, is brown above, white beneath and 

 on the rump ; a black circle round the throat ; feet and base of the 



melanotos, T.); — the T. mennier {P. pulverulentus, T.), Col. 405; — the T. emeraudine 

 {P. smaragdimis, T.), Col. 421; the T. blanche {P. albus, L.), Philip., Voy. to Bot. 

 Bay, p. 273; J. White, p. 238. 



* Add the Coot of Madagascar {Ful. cristata, Gm.), Enl. 797; Vieill. Gal. 269 (a). 



f Linnseus (Edit. XII) even placed the common species in the genus Iliruudo, 

 under the name of Hir. prathicola. 



(a) Add also F. amerkana, Gm.;^Wils. IX, pi. Ixxiii, f. 1. — Eng. Ed. 



