306 RALLIDiE. 



St. Petersburg in Russia ; in Asia, from Transbaikalia and 

 Japan southwards to Ceylon and the Philippine Islands ; also 

 in the Azores, the Canary Islands, and Madeira, and through- 

 out the greater part of Africa to the Cape and Madagascar. It 

 is migratory in the northern parts of its range. Birds from 

 eastern Asia and Madagascar have been regarded as distinct. 

 It is represented in America and the Hawaiian Islands by 

 allied forms. 



Genus FULICA Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. 1758, p. 152. 

 Type : F. atra Linn. 



Fulica = a Coot, in classical Latin. Another form, fulix, genit. fulicis, 

 occurs in Cicero. Akin to (jiaX-aKpos = bald-headed, and Eng. bold. 



Fulica atra. Coot. 



Fulica atra Linnwus, Syst. Nat. 1758, p. 152 : Sweden. 



Fulica atra Linn. ; S. O. U. List, 1st ed. 1883, p. 151 ; Sharpe, 

 Cat. Birds JB. M. xxiii. 1894, p. 210 ; Saunders, Manual, 

 2nd ed. 1899, p. 519. 



Atra = black. 



Distribution in (lie British Islands. — A Eesident, generally 

 distributed, and locally very abundant. During severe 

 frosts it visits tidal estuaries and the sea-coast. 



General Distribution. — The Coot breeds in the Faeroes and 

 in Europe from 70° N. latitude in Scandinavia, and about 

 G0° N. in Russia southwards to the Mediterranean, east- 

 wards across temperate Asia to China and Japan, and south 

 to the Philippine Islands and India; also in north Africa 

 and the Azores. It is migratory in the northern parts of its 

 range, and in autumn and winter vast numbers visit north 

 Africa, Egypt, India, and Burma, as well as Madeira and the 

 Canary Islands. It occasionally wanders to Iceland, and 

 has even occurred in Greenland. In the Spanish Peninsula 

 and throughout Africa an allied species, F, cristata, is met 

 with. 



