254 ORALLY. 



THE COOT (Flllica). 



There is also only one British bird of this genus, the com- 

 mon coot, bald coot, or Hack coot (Fulica atrci). Like the 

 gallinule, it is a resident bird, generally distributed and 

 common, though its haunts differ a little from those of the 

 other. It is more a water bird in structure, in appearance, 

 and in habits ; so much so, that the water may be said to 

 be its proper element. Large ponds, small lakes, the quiet 

 and sedgy nooks of the larger ones, and the placid pools 

 of the broad rivers, are the favourite summer habita- 

 tions of the coot. In the lower and warmer parts of the 

 country, where the water is not apt to freeze in the winter, 

 and even in the tarns further upland, which have sufficient 

 depth to resist the winter, the coot is resident all the 

 year. But many are driven, especially during severe and 

 protracted winters, from those more shallow and easily frozen 

 pools where they bred, and forced to seek their food in 

 the estuaries of rivers, and in creeks and openings of the 

 coast. They quit these again in the spring, and pass the 

 summer in those pools of the uplands, where they find that 

 shelter and seclusion which accord with their habits. 



and Southern Europe as a bird of passage, or rather, perhaps, as an 

 occasional wanderer. It takes its insect prey both on the ground and 

 during its flight, and skims the surface of the water like the swallow. 



Species of the genus Glareola inhabit India, the Indian islands, 

 Europe, and Africa. Mr. Gould figures two, G. grallarla, Tennn., and 

 Cr. oriental is, Leach, in his " Birds of Australia." 



In the collared pratincole, the upper surface generally is yellowish- 

 brown, with a metallic lustre; the throat and fore-part of the neck 

 reddish white, bounded by a narrow list of black, which proceeds upwards, 

 and joins a black streak between the bill and the eyes. Urcast pale 

 brown ; abdomen and upper tail-coverts white ; tail greatly forked, 

 blackish-brown, the basal half of the feathers rxccptcd, which is white; 

 under wing-coverts brownish red ; quills blackish brown ; edges of the 

 bill, and base of the lower mandible, scarlet-orange; legs brownish 

 purple-red ; irides light orange-brown. M. 



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