BALD COOT. 209 



Adult male. Entire back, scapulars, tail, and the greater portion of the wings 

 greenish-black, with a slight glossy tinge ; lesser wing-coverts ultramarine-blue, like 

 the outer webs of the bastard -wing ; marginal coverts, inner webs of the bastard - 

 wing, primary -coverts, and quills black ; lores, fore-part of the cheeks, occiput, and 

 hind-neck also black ; hinder neck, throat, entire breast, sides of the body, under 

 wing-coverts, and flanks purplish-blue ; middle of abdomen black ; under tail- 

 coverts pure white ; axillaries black, some tipped with blue ; quills below glossy 

 black ; bill and frontal plate red ; iris red ; tarsi and feet dusky-red. Total length 

 500 mm. ; culmen and frontal plate 69, wing 266, tail 110, tarsus 95. 



Adult female. Similar in colour but the plumage duller and the size smaller. 



Immature. Upper-surface blackish-brown, the wing-coverts first showing the 

 bluish colouring, the under-surface paler brown, the chin palest, the breast dull 

 bluish-brown, and the abdomen fulvous-brown ; the under tail-coverts dirty 

 yellowish-white ; iris brown ; bill brownish, reddish towards the base and the 

 small frontal plate ; legs dark reddish-brown. 



Immature (younger, half -fledged}. Upper-surface blackish -brown, the feathers 

 edged with pale brown, the scapulars and wing-coverts showing a tinge of blue all 

 under-surface pale dusky-brown, the breast feathers with pale bluish tips the vent 

 feathers fulvous. 



Nestling in down. Covered with dense black down, the head, neck wings and 

 back tipped with white lines, which are in reality sheaths of the down and which 

 soon fall off ; bill greyish-white, black at the tip ; legs dull slate-grey ; in a few 

 days the chick is wholly black ; bill, helmet and feet light red. 



Nest.- ;Bulky, carelessly built of dry and green reeds, which had been apparently 

 crushed and softened between the bird's bill. Situated on the top of tussocks of 

 grass, in shallow water ; sometimes ten feet from the bank. Outside measurements 

 14 inches from top to bottom, and sixteen inches wide ; egg cavity nine by four 

 incnes . 



h ff ^ 5 ;TJ UtC ^ thiee *? fiV \ ; Sm th and slight1 ^ S loss y ; ground-colour sandy- 

 buif, blotched and spotted with chestnut over the entire surface, with underline 

 spots of lead-grey ; axis 48-49 mm., diameter 3^36. Tasmanian eggs are larger 

 and more boldly marked ; axis 50-53.5, diameter 35-37 mm 



Breeding-season. August to November. (Tasmania, Victoria, etc ) Januarv 

 and February. (Queensland.) y 



Distribution and forms. From the Moluccas through New Guinea Australia 

 save the south-west, Tasmania, New Zealand, and the Chatham Islands,' and appar- 

 ently the western islands of the Pacific Ocean. The extra-Jimital forms are as 

 sual imperfectly known, and no advance seems to have been made since Mathews's 

 idies in 1911, when he suggested investigation as below ; the Australian subspecies 

 are three in number, but probably more will be later recognised-these are P m 

 melanotus Temmmck from Eastern Australia; P. m. fletchercz Mathews,' from 

 Tasmania, a larger form with the wing measuring 300 mm. against 275 of the typical 

 race but showing the same coloration ; and P. m. neometanotus Mathews, from the 

 North-west of Australia, about the same size as the typical form, but with the under 

 oloration ultramarine or cobalt rather than purple, the colour on the upper-breast 

 and throat brighter than on the flanks and lower-breast. The Neozelanic bird is a 

 brighter purple below, tending to verditer on the upper-breast, and may be called 

 P. m.stanleyi Rowley _ (the name given to an albino specimen apparently received 

 thTr^ ^T d ' ^ h]ch ls famed f r its albinistic specimens), and Sharpe called 

 the Chatham Island form, on account of the verditer tinge all through the breast 

 P. cMhameuns but this seems to be a feature of mainland birds also at certrin 



S^ ftSTtl. P 6 ? am ?T f f m D haS been Called P ' s ^ensi S) the Fijian P. vitiensis, 

 the one from the Pelew Islands P. pelewensis, the form inhabiting the New Hebrides 

 P. aneiteunensis, and the New Guinea bird P. mdanopterus, all of these appearing 



