FUMARIACE^!. 



walks with great labour and difficulty. But the foot 

 of the coot is another of those instances, of which 

 thore are not a few in the structure of birds, in which 

 the very master-pieces (so to speak) of nature's 

 mechanics are considered clumsy, for no other reason 

 than because we will not examine them, and find out 

 why they are thus constructed. The coot's toot has 

 a compound function to perform, and therefore it 

 must be a compound instrument. We look at it only 

 in one of its uses, or rather we look merely at its 

 form, (for when used either way it is used cleverly), 

 and hence we draw the conclusion from our own 

 ignorance. In order that the coot may properly iill 

 that place which appears to be assigned to it in the 

 economy of nature, it must swim, and also walk, and 

 even climb a tree upon emergency ; and though it is 

 not launched upon the broad waters like those pelagic 

 swimmers that fish, or capable of procuring its food 

 by the touch of a dabbling bill like the swimmers in 

 the shallows, it must swim to considerable distances, 

 and with some rapidity. In order to do that, it must 

 have the centre of gravity considerably in front of the 

 articulation of the legs, so that these may act in the 

 wake of the body, and have the advantage of the 

 eddy. It must also swim clean, and without those 

 projecting feathers which are found on the sides of 

 the gallinule, and which, though they assist in making 

 it buoyant when moving slowly, would either impede 

 a quick motion, or be flattened to the sides, and have 

 their buoyancy destroyed by it. The form of the 

 body, the position of the legs, and the extent of the 

 toes, with their lobed margins, answer these purposes 

 remarkably well, and the coot is a very efficient 

 swimming bird. But, again, the coot has to walk, 

 and so that is a lifting motion, while swimming is 

 merely a pushing along, the weight being supported 

 by the water, some modification is required. The 

 swimming foot is converted into a very efficient 

 walking foot, by that very bending of the tarsal joint 

 which, to us, makes the leg appear so awkward. 

 The bending of that joint, without any muscular 

 effort, pulls the tendons that compress the toes, and 

 slackens those that resist that compression because 

 the former tendon passes over the outside of the 

 bend at the tarsal joint, and the latter along the 

 inside. The toes are very long ; and the tendons 

 pull them to their extremities, so that the centre of 

 support in the foot is thrown far before the articula- 

 tion of the tarsal, and by the action of the same 

 spring the weight of the body, is, at every step, dis- 

 charged from and received by the points of the toes, 

 which it could not be, if the tarsal joints were not 

 bent. The toes being free, too, and not joined by a 

 continuous web, enables the spring of each to act to 

 the full range of its articulations, and the foot to 

 adapt itself to any form of surface upon which the 

 bird may have occasion to walk. Even the produced 

 hind toe has its uses in throwing the foot upwards, and 

 also in walking upon grassy and other elastic surfaces." 

 The foreign species of coot which have been enu- 

 merated by various authors, differ but little from the 

 common coot excepting in size. That of Java is very 

 similar to the European. But the Indian one men- 

 tioned by Colonel Sykes, merits notice in the terms 

 in which the colonel himself describes it. It " differs 

 only from the Javanese specimens in being larger, 

 and a shade lighter below. Much larger than the 

 common coot of Europe, but with the same coloured 

 Indes (crimson),and does not otherwise differ. Length 



555 



inclusive of tail eighteen to nineteen inches : tail two 

 inches. It has the habits of Podiceps (Grebes) and, 

 with the _ gizzard, long caeca, and general internal 

 organisation of a duck, seems to belong to the order 

 Natatores (swimming birds). Water weeds and 

 coarse sand found in the stomach." 



The only species which Cuvier admits in the Regne 

 Animal as different from the European, is the crested 

 coot of Madagascar (F. cristnta). It is all over of a 

 bluish black colour ; bill white, but red at the base ; 

 frontal plate red, rising up and forming a crest ; feet 

 black ; and length about seventeen or eighteen 

 inches. The habits quite unknown. 



FUMARIACE.5J. A natural order containing six 

 or seven genera, and many species. The plants asso- 

 ciated by their general similitude to Fumaria, to form 



Fumaria lutea. 



this type, are non-lactescent herbs, with sometimes 

 tuberous roots, and brittle glabrous stems. The 

 leaves are usually alternate, compound, sometimes 

 cirrhose, and destitute of stipules. The inflorescence 

 is racemose, the pedicels furnished with bractese, and 

 the flowers irregular and united. The calyx is free, 

 small, and membranaceous, and formed of two sepals 

 which are deciduous. The petals are four, set cross- 

 wise, deciduous, either discrete or coalescent by their 

 claws, the two external ones alternate with the sepals, 

 and either one or both saccate at the base ; the two 

 inner ones alternate with the outer, hardish at the 

 tops, where they are coloured by a terminal spot, and 

 connected so as to enclose the anthers and stigma. 

 The stamens are six in number, the filaments diadel- 

 phous, united into two bundles, which alternate with 

 the two inner petals, and are therefore opposite the 

 outer ones. The anthers are six, the lateral in each 

 bundle being one-celled, while the central ones are 

 each two-celled. They are small, erect, and open 

 longitudinally. The germen is formed of two con- 

 nate seed-vessels, the style filiform, and the stigma 

 two-plated and parallel with the internal petals. 



The Fumariaceae are innocuous plants, inodorous, 

 herbage bitter, and which has been esteemed slightly 

 diaphoretic and aperient. F. officina/is is the Fumits 

 terrce of the older herbalists, so called from the light 

 and smoke-like cloudiness of its foliage, whence the 

 modern generic name Fumaria. Curyda/is bulbosa, 

 which has thick roots abounding in fecula, is resorted 

 to by the KalmucB in winter as food. 



