7 1 6 GALLINULA FULICA 



1'21. Two or sometimes three broods are reared in the same 

 season. In America our Moorhen is replaced by a closely allied 

 form, G. galeata (Licht.). 



FULICA, Linn., 1766. 



999. THE COOT. 

 FULICA ATRA. 



Fulica atra, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 257 (1766) ; Naum. ix. p. 635, Taf. 

 241 ; Hewitson, ii. p. 380, pi. cvii. fig. 2 ; Gould, B. of E. iv. 

 pi. 338 ; id. B. of Gt. Brit. iv. pi. 84 ; Dresser, vii. p. 327, pi. 504, 

 fig. 2 ; David and Oust. Ois. Chine, p. 489 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. 

 Mus. xxiii. p. 210 ; Tacz. F. 0. Sib. 0. p. 1001 ; Blanf. F. Brit. Ind. 

 Birds, iv. p. 180 ; Seebohm, B. Jap. Emp. p. 360 ; Saunders, p. 519 ; 

 Lilford, iv. p. 147, pi. 63. 



Foulque'n&vre, French; Galeirao, Portug. ; Mancon, Focha> 

 Span. ; Folaga, Ital. ; BldsshuJin, German ; MeerJcoet, Dutch ; 

 Blishone, Norweg. and Dan. ; Sothona, Swed. ; NoJciJeana, Finn. ; 

 Lisa, Lisucha, Russ. ; KaschJcalda, Tartar ; Ghorra, Arab. ; El 

 Ghor, Moor. ; Dasari, Hindu. ; 0-ban, Jap. 



<J ad. (England). Head, neck, crissum, and under tail-coverts black, 

 the two first slightly washed with slate ; upper parts dark slaty blackish, 

 the edge of the wing and tips of short secondaries white ; under parts slaty 

 blue-grey ; bill and frontal plate bluish white ; legs bluish grey, the bare 

 part of the tibia orange ; iris deep red. Culmen, with frontal plate, 2'05, 

 gape 1'45, wing 8*2, tail 2 '2, tarsus 2 '25, middle toe with claw, 3'55 inch. 

 Sexes similar. 



Hob. Europe generally, becoming rarer in Northern Scandi- 

 navia ; Azores, Madeira, Canaries ; Egypt and North Africa ; 

 Asia Minor, and Asia east to Japan; north to Tarei-nor in 

 Siberia; N.E. Kan-su, Mongolia, Manchuria; in winter south 

 to the Philippines. 



In the extreme northern portion of its range it is migratory, 

 but chiefly resident in Britain and "the south. It frequents 

 marshes, ponds, and lakes where the aquatic herbage is dense 

 and affords ample shelter. On land it runs with ease, on the 

 water swims excellently, and dives well. It is very gregarious, 

 but shy and wary. It takes wing heavily, but flies well when 

 once aloft. Its food consists of seeds, buds, and tender shoots 

 of aquatic plants, insects, small shell-fish, &c., and it feeds both 

 in the day and at night. Its call-note is a clear, loud, almost 

 trumpet-like cry uttered abruptly. Its nest is a large, close 



