352 BIRDS OF BRITISH BURMAH. 



This Gallinule is found abundantly in all swamps and tracts of water 

 covered with floating vegetation. In the rains its area of distribution is 

 much extended ; and it may then be found generally spread over flooded 

 plains, provided there is dense cover in the vicinity, for this species when 

 not feeding likes to conceal itself. I have generally met with them in con- 

 siderable flocks. The breeding-season is July and August; the nest, made 

 of grass and reeds, is placed on the ground in flooded spots amongst thick 

 grass ; and the eggs, which are sometimes as many as ten, are a pale buff 

 richly marked with red and purple. 



Genus FULICA, Linn. 



703. FULICA ATRA. 



THE COOT. 



Fulica atra, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 257 ; Jerd. B. 2nd. ii. p. 715 ; Hume, S. f. i. 

 p. 249 ; id. Nests and Eggs, p. 595 ; Bl. B. Burm. p. 162 j Wardlaw Ramsay, 

 Ibis, 1877, p. 472 ; David et Oust Ois. Chine, p. 489 ; Hume $ Dav. S. F. vi. 

 p. 465 ; Dresser, Birds Eur. vii. p. 327 ; Hume, S. F. viii. p. 113 ; Scully, S. F. 

 viii. p. 358; Oates, S. F. x. p. 241. 



Description. Male and female. Head and neck all round black; the 

 upper plumage, tail, scapulars, tertiaries and wing- coverts dark ashy 

 brown; quills light brown, the secondaries tipped with white; lower 

 plumage light ashy brown ; under tail-coverts blackish. 



Iris red ; bill and shield bluish white ; legs and toes liver-brown, tinged 

 with green on the tarsus ; in summer there is a ring of yellow, green and 

 red round the tibia. 



Length 16 inches, tail 2'5, wing 8'5, tarsus 2*3, bill from gape 1*4. The 

 female is of the same size. 



The Coot of Europe is locally distributed throughout Burmah and 

 is tolerably abundant. I met with it in the large swamp at Payagalay 

 north of the town of Pegu ; Capt. Wardlaw Ramsay observed it near 

 Tonghoo, and Mr. Davison at Kedai-Keglay, between the Sittang and 

 Sal ween rivers. 



It is found over the whole of Europe and the northern half of Africa, 

 and it is spread over temperate and tropical Asia, extending through the 

 islands to Australia. 



The Coot frequents weedy swamps and lakes, being found in flocks 

 swimming about and feeding on vegetable matter. It makes a floating 

 nest, and probably breeds in Burmah in July and August. 



