COOT. 211 



claw exceeding the tarsus in length, each joint having a membranous lobe on each 

 side, the claws, very peculiar, being long, very narrow, and rather sharply curved ; 

 the front edge of the tarsus is covered with a row of horizontal scutes, the lateral 

 compression of the tarsus making the side reticulations elongate and tending to 

 obsolete scutes as on the back. 



Coloration blackish-grey above and below. 



146. Fulica atra. COOT. 



[Fulica atra Linne, Syst. Nat., 10th ed., p. 152, Jan. 1st, 1758 : Sweden, Europe. Extra- 



limital.] 



Gould, Vol. VI., pi. 74 (pt. xxiv.), Sept. 1st, 1846. Mathews, Vol. I., pt. 5, pi. 61, Oct. 31st, 



1911. 



Fulica australis Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. (Lond.), 1845, p. 2, April : West Australia. 



Fulica tasmanica Grant, Tasm. Journ. Sci., Vol. II., p. 310, (April ?) 1845 : Tasmania. 



Fulica atra ingrami Mathews, Nov. Zool., Vol. XVIII., p. 196, Jan. 31st, 1912 : Alexandra, 



Northern Territory. 



DISTRIBUTION. Australia generally and Tasmania. 



Adult male. General colour plumbeous -grey, paler and duller on the under- 

 surface ; head and neck all round black ; bastard-wing, primary -coverts, and quills 

 dark brown ; edge of wing white at base of outer primary -quill ; under tail-coverts 

 black, greater under wing-coverts and quill-lining slaty -grey ; bill pale bluish- 

 grey ; iris brick-red, feet steel-grey. Total length 390 mm. ; culmen and frontal 

 shield 42, wing 187, tail 45, tarsus 55. 



Adult female. Similar to the adult male but paler in colour, more especially 

 on the under-surface. Total length 324 mm. ; culmen 40, wing 191, tail 47, tarsus 55. 



Immature. The upper-surface paler grey and of a dull shade, the throat is 

 whitish and the under-surface is much paler greyish. 



Young in down are black, having yellow hair-like tips, the down thickest about 

 the face and neck ; bill cream colour. 



Nest. Large, loose structure, composed of reeds and rushes ; placed near the 

 water. Dimensions 15 inches by 8 inches deep ; egg cavity 8 by 3 deep. 



Eggs. Clutch, about six or seven ; smooth and glossy ; stone colour, minutely 

 dotted with black, evenly over the entire surface ; axis 44 mm., diameter 33. 



Breeding -season. August to February. 



Distribution and forms. Through Europe, Asia, Australia and Tasmania, the 

 extra-limital forms not well distinguished at present. The Australian form is 

 separable only by size from the European, the coloration being practically the same 

 in every detail. It is however probable that a very small difference is worthy 

 of consideration in a genus so widely distributed as this, but sufficient mate- 

 rial has not been collected nor studied to determine exactly the status even of the 

 Australian -named forms. These are three in number : Fulica australis Gould 

 from West Australia ; Fulica tasmanica Grant from Tasmania ; and Fulica atra 

 ingrami Mathews from the Northern Territory; 



SUBORDER PODICIPIFORMES. 



There is only one family and not many species in this suborder which has a 

 world-wide distribution, little variation being seen in one form ranging over the 

 Old World, through Australia into New Zealand. The species are easily recognisable 

 by their peculiarly lobed feet, recalling those of the Coots, but yet different in detail ; 

 the body is long and rather slender, the feet being placed very far backward ; they 

 have short rounded wings and no appreciable tail, a longish neck, small head and 

 pointed bill, in one form stout and short, in another long and slender. Many species 

 .have feather ornaments on their heads and necks during the breeding-season. 



P 2 



