AYES. 393 



Podoa ILLIG., Heliornis BONNAT., GRAY. Bill moderate, com- 

 pressed, carinate; nostrils pervious, lateral. Wings with third 

 quill, or with third, fourth, and fifth quills the longest. Tail 

 rounded. Feet short, with toes elongate, lobate. Neck elongate. 



a) Tail broad. Toes conjoined at the base. 



Sp. Podoa surinamensis, Plotus surinamensis GM., BUFF. PL enl. 893, LESS. 

 Ornith. PL 107, fig. 2. 



b) Tail narrow. Toes lobate, free at the bane. 



Another larger species of the size of a duck : Podoa senegalensis LESSON, 

 GBAT Gen. of Birds, PL CLXXIII. ; from the west coast of Africa. Not 

 long ago a third species from Malacca was made known, Podoa (Podica) 

 personata GRAY, Proceed, of the Zool. Soc. 1848, p. 90. 



These birds neither belong to Plotus, nor ought they to be placed with 

 Pvdiceps; the skeleton of the African species in the Leyden Museum 

 indicates in the small flat sternum, the short wing-bones (os humeri, radius 

 and ulna) and other peculiarities, the nearest correspondence with Fulica. 



Fulica BRISS., ILLIG. (species from gen. Fulica L.). Bill mode- 

 rate; upper mandible gradually deflected, thick, compressed, extend- 

 ing into an unplumed shield over the forehead. Nostrils pervious, 

 lateral, placed in the middle of bill. Wings short, with second and 

 third quills longest of all. Tail short. Feet moderate, with toes 

 very long, lobate. 



Sp. Fulica atra L. (and aterrima ejusd.), BUFF. PL enl. 197, LESSON Ornith. 

 PL 1 06, fig. 2, NAUM. Taf. 241 ; the common coot, la foulque ou morelle, 

 das Wasserhuhn; black, belly slate-coloured, shield on the head white; the 

 size of a hen. The coot lives on insects, worms and water-plants, and lays 

 eight or more eggs in a nest that floats amongst the bulrushes. This bird 

 migrates from us (Holland) in November and returns in March; in more 

 southern countries of Europe it is a permanent bird. 



Porphyrio BRISS., TEMM. (species of Fulica L.). Bill shorter 

 than head, high, compressed, continued into a shield extending 

 over the forehead. Nostrils rounded, lateral, pervious. Wings 

 moderate. Feet long, strong. Toes very long, surrounded by a 

 narrow membrane. 



Sp. Porphyrio veterum GM., Porphyrio hyacinthinus TEMM., EDWABDS Birds, 

 PL 87, LESS. Ornith. PL 105, fig. 2 ; in Sardinia, Calabria and the Grecian 

 Archipelago; the Porphyrio of the ancients (Laudatissima et nobilissima 

 avis, cui rostrum et prcdonga crura rubent. PLINIUS Lib. x. c. 46; comp. 

 also c. 49). With this bird of southern Europe a species from South 

 Africa is commonly confounded, Porphyrio Madagascariensis LATH., Por- 

 phyrio smaragnotusTEMM., Fulica porphyrio L., BUFF. PL enl. 810, GUEE. 

 Iconogr., Oi*. PL 58, fig. 2. Porphyrio indicus HOBSF., Porphyrio 

 smaragdinus TEMM. PL color. 421, occurs at Java, &c. 



