554 



F U L I C A. 



size of the insects, which measure several inches across 

 the wings, that the light must be very distinct, and 

 that the appearance of the trees studded with these 

 living lights must be exceedingly beautiful. The 

 chief testimony in favour of the existence of this lumi- 

 nosity is Madame Merian, who tells us that the 

 Indians had brought her several of the Fulgorce 

 laternaria, which, by day-light, exhibited no extraor- 

 dinary appearance, and she inclosed them in a box 

 until she should have an opportunity of drawing them, 

 placing it upon a table in her lodging-room. In the 

 middle of the night the confined insects made such a 

 noise as to awaken her, and she opened the box, the 

 inside of which, to her great astonishment, appeared 

 all in a blaze ; and in her fright letting it fall, she was 

 not less surprised to see each of the insects apparently 

 on fire. She soon, however, divined the cause of this 

 unexpected phenomenon, and removed her brilliant 

 guests to their place of confinement. She asserted 

 that the light of one of these Fulgora: was sufficiently 

 bright to read a newspaper by ; and though the tale 

 of her having drawn one of these insects by its own 

 light is without foundation, she, doubtless, might have 

 done so it' she had chosen. 



Notwithstanding this positive statement, it is to be, 

 observed, that from the accounts of some recent ob- 

 servers, there is great reason to distrust its correct- 

 ness no one author or traveller having distinctly 

 asserted that these insects are in the least luminous ; 

 whilst several, as M. Lacordaire, M. Richard, and 

 Dr. Hancock, who have seen these insects alive, have 

 not observed them to be luminous. One species of 

 this genus, of small size, the Fulgora Europcea, is 

 reputed to be an inhabitant of this country. 



FULICA Coot. A genus of birds belonging to 

 Cuvier's sub-order Maci-odactyles, or long-toed birds ; 

 and as a Linnaean genus including the GALLINCJLES 

 and the SULTANA-HEN, under which names we shall 

 notice these birds ; and thus we shall be enabled to 

 restrict our present notice to the coots properly so 

 called. 



With this restriction the generic characters are 

 given as follows : The bill middle-sized, strong, 

 conical, straight, compressed, much deeper than broad 

 at the base, the ridge projecting in front, and dilated 

 into a naked plate ; both mandibles of the same 

 length, the upper slightly curved and widened at the 

 base, the lower forming an angle ; nostrils lateral in 

 the middle of the bill, longitudinally cleft, half closed 

 by a membrane, and pervious ; legs long, slender, 

 naked above the knee, all the toes very long, con- 

 nected at their base, and furnished along their sides 

 with scalloped membranes ; wings middle-sized. The 

 coots are more decided residents in the water than 

 even the gallinules, being rarely seen on land, living 

 and travelling in the liquid element, and swimming 

 and diving with equal facility. But they inhabit 

 fresh waters, gulfs, and bays, and venture not into the 

 deep and open seas. Although individuals of the 

 same species vary considerably in dimensions, the 

 sexes are with difficulty distinguished, and in appear- 

 ance the young differ very little from the adults. 

 Their food chiefly consists of aquatic vegetables and 

 insects. 



COMMON COOT (F. o.trd). This is a general resi- 

 dent in the old continent, and also in America ; and 

 it remains in the British islands the whole year with- 

 out migrating. The size is nearly the same as that of 

 A common fowl, the average length being eighteen 



inches, and the spread of the wings about twenty- 

 eight. The weight varies from a pound and a half 

 to two pounds, according to the condition of the bird. 

 It breeds early in the spring, the female generally 

 constructing her nest of a large quantity of coarse dry 

 herbage, as flags and rushes, well matted together, 

 and bound with softer and finer grasses, in u bush of 

 rushes, surrounded by the water. By heaping the 

 materials together, she raises the fabric sufficiently 

 above the water to prevent the eggs from getting wet ; 

 but as this sort of structure very often renders it too 

 conspicuous to the buzzard, and other birds of prey, 

 the old females, instructed by experience, place it on 

 the banks of the streams, and among the tallest flags, 

 where it is much better hidden from the view. It 

 being kept in a buoyant state, a sudden flood, attended 

 by a gale of wind, has been known to drive it from 

 its moorings, and to float it from one side of a large 

 piece of water to the other, with the bird still sitting 

 on it. The female lays from twelve to twenty-one 

 eggs at a time, and mostly hatches twice in a season. 

 The eggs are about the size of those of a pullets, and 

 of a pale brownish white, sprinkled with numerous 

 dark spots, which run into blotches at the thicker 

 end. These eggs are sold in Holland, before they 

 are sat upon, and fetch a considerable price in the 

 market. The incubation lasts twenty-two or twenty- 

 three days. The young soon alter quitting the shell 

 dive and plunge into the water swimming about with 

 great ease, and, though they do not return to the nest, 

 nor take shelter under their mother's wings, they still 

 for some time gather about her, skulking under the 

 flags. At .first they are covered with a sooty down, 

 and are of a shapeless appearance ; and before they 

 have learned to shun their enemies, they are fre- 

 quently sacrificed to the rapacity of the pike, the 

 moor buzzard, the kite, and other birds of prey. In 

 the isle of Sheppy this species breeds very abundantly, 

 and the inhabitants will not suffer their eggs to be 

 taken, as the bird forms a considerable article of food. 

 On meagre days they are eaten by the French ; but, 

 though skinned before dressing, they are not very 

 palatable to every appetite. The common coot is a 

 very poor traveller, and waddles with much apparent 

 difficulty from one pool to another, with an awkward 

 gait. It usually lies concealed among the water 

 plants during the day time, rarely venturing abroad 

 except in the dark, or at night in quest of herbage, 

 seeds, insects, or fishes, the light very probably 

 dazzling its imperfect vision. It can seldom be forced 

 from its retreat by the sportsman and his dog, and 

 rather than spring up it will bury itself in the mud, or 

 if compelled to rise from being very closely pursued, 

 it rises with much fluttering and apparent difficulty. 

 As the foot of the coot has sometimes been described, 

 by those who do not take into account the functions 

 which an organ has to perform along with the shape of 

 that organ, we shall quote a passage from Mudie's 

 Feathered Tribes, as illustrative of the action of the 

 coot's foot. " The legs," says Mr. Mudie, " are placed 

 farther backwards than in any of the birds that live 

 chiefly on land, but they did not appear to be farther 

 back than they are in reality, from the degree to 

 which the tarsal joint is extended when the bird 

 walks. 



' It has been said, and the saying has no doubt 

 been founded on that very bending of the tarsal joint, 

 and the tendency that the toes have to collapse the 

 instant that the foot is off the ground, that the coot 



