POEPHYKIO POLIOCEPIIALUS. 797 



Distribution. — This species of Blue Coot is very generally distributed over Ceylon as regards the various 

 ornithological districts into which the low country may be divided ; but it is local, confining itself, for the 

 most part, to tanks and waters which are either overgrown with reeds and other aquatic vegetable growth or 

 bordered by the same. Thus in many secluded tanks in the jungle where one would expect to find it it is 

 absent, and at others where there are large reed-beds or other tangled vegetation it is abundant, even though 

 there be human habitations in the vicinity of its haunt. Of late years, before I left Ceylon, it became quite 

 numerous in the Lotus Pond at Colombo, one of the most public waters in the island, where a dense mass of 

 Lotus-plants and other weeds afforded it shelter ; and hence it took up its quarters there. It is to be met with 

 in the swamps beyond Borella and towards Heneratgoda ; but in general the cultivated parts of the Western 

 Province are not favourable to its habits. On the shores of the southern arm of the Bolgodde or Pantura 

 Lake it is not uncommon ; and the fine sheet of water at Ambalangoda has its share, Coots frequenting the 

 sequestered inlets of its inner shores. In other secluded marshes southward towards Matara it is also found. 

 I observed that it was abundant at Sittrawella and Tissa-Maha-Rama tanks, and met with it also in the 

 Wellaway Korale. At the tanks of the Eastern Province it is common ; and the Bintenne Lake is also 

 frequented by it. In one spot near Trincomalie, already referred to in this work, namely the Tamara Kulam, 

 it is very numerous, as also at Topoor tank ; and the large Topare tank and other overgrown sheets of water 

 in the interior form great resorts of this species. I do not know that it extends into Dumbara or ascends 

 the hills on any other side. 



On the mainland we find it generally distributed throughout India, where there are weedy tanks and 

 jheels, extending through Arakan, Burmah, and the western part of Tenasserim, according to Mr. Hume, as 

 far as 16° N. lat. In the south of the Peninsula we have but little data of its occurrence ; we may, however, 

 assume that its distribution is similar there to what it is in Ceylon, for Mr. Bourdillon found it in great numbers 

 at the Vellarncy Lake, at the base of the Travancore hills. The Rev. Dr. Fairbank, in his list of birds from 

 the Khandala district, notes a specimen, on the authority of Mr. Blanford, as having been procured near 

 Poona. Messrs. Davidson and "Wender state that it is sparingly scattered over the Deccan in suitable localities. 

 Mr. Ball says that it occasionally occurs in Chota Nagpur, and cites the Rajmehal hills, Manbhum, 

 Singbhum, Sambalpur, Nowagarh, Karial, and the Godaveri valley as localities where he obtained or observed 

 it. From Raipur it is recorded by Mr. Hume. In Furreedpore Mr. Cripps says that it is local in its 

 distribution, dozens being seen in some places and none in others which seem just as suitable. Captain 

 Butler, writing of the Mount-Aboo district and of Guzerat, states that it is uncommon in most parts, but 

 very plentiful in some of the tanks overgrown with reeds and dense beds of bulrushes ; and Mr. Hume 

 supplements this by saying that it is common in Sindh and Kattiawar, less so in Kutch, where there are 

 not many localities suited to it, and very rare in Jodhpoor ; whilst speaking of Sindh he observes that it is 

 very abundant in the rush-overgrown lakes. Mr. Oates records it as common in the Engmah swamp in Upper 

 Pegu, and as found also at Boulay, but there uncommon. Dr. Armstrong does not note it from the 

 Irrawaddy delta. As regards the province of Tenasserim, Captain Wardlaw Ramsay records it from Tonghoo ; 

 and Mr. Davison from Yeaboo and Assoon. It does not appear to extend to the eastward of the Sittang, 

 and is very local in the portions of this district that it does inhabit. 



To the southward of this district there seems to be a long stretch of country down the province from 

 which the genus is absent, beyond which it is represented by P. calvus, inhabiting the Malav peninsula and 

 the islands of the archipelago. 



Habits — So partial is this species to rush-beds and waters which are overgrown with reeds and impenetrable 

 sedge growth, that it is only found in such spots, not inhabiting (owing solely to an absence of such cover) many 

 places where one would expect to find it. It is again a very sociable bird, being quite gregarious in its habits ; 

 and this is another cause which confines it to localities where there is feeding-ground and cover for large 

 numbers of its fellows. In a neglected tank like Topare, through which the floods speedily pass, but 

 leave a large area of shallow water, which in tropical climates speedily becomes a tangled mass of Lotus- 

 reeds, rushes, aquatic plants, and shrubs, the Purple Coot finds a perfect paradise ; and dozens may be seen 

 stalking unconcernedly about on the floating leaves and herbage, violently jerking up their tails and showing 

 the conspicuous white under-coverts, keeping all the while well out of shot, and appearing to know that the 



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