COMMON COOT. 



FVHCARIM. 



171 

 RALLIDM. 



FULICA ATRA, Linnaeus.* 



THE COMMON COOT. 



Fulica atra. 



FULICA, Bnsson^. Beak of medium size, shorter than the head, strong, 

 conical, straight, compressed at the base, higher than broad, superior basal por- 

 tion extending up the forehead, and dilated, forming a naked patch ; points of 

 both mandibles compressed, of equal length ; the upper one slightly curved, the 

 inferior mandible with an angle underneath at the sympbysis. Nostrils lateral, 

 pierced longitudinally about the middle of the beak, partly closed by a mem- 

 brane. Legs long, slender, naked above the tarsal joint ; three toes in front, 

 one behind ; all the toes long, united at the base, furnished laterally with an 

 extension of the membrane, forming round lobes. Wings of moderate size ; the 

 first feather shorter than the second or third, which are the longest in the wing. 

 Tail short, 



THE COOT is a generally distributed species throughout 

 the British Islands, upon large ponds, lakes, and slow 

 rivers ; it also frequents the level shores of some parts of 



* Syst. Nat. Ed. 12, i. p. 257 (1766). + Ornithologie, vi. p. 23 (1760). 



