564 BRITISH BIRDS. 



FULICA ATRA. 

 COMMON COOT. 



(Plate 23.) 



Fulica fulica, > ^^.^^ ^^.^ ^. ^g 



Fulicamajor, J ir j \ / 



Fulica atra, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 257 (1766) ; et auctorum plurimorum — Latham, 



Temminck, Naumann, Degland 8( Gerhe, Dresser, Saunders, &c. 

 Fulica aterrima, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 258 (1766). 

 Fulica Migiuosa, | ^^^_ ^ ^^^_ ^^^_ ^^ ^^g 



Fulica albiventns, j -^ rr ; \ / 



Fulica leucoryx, j ^ ^^^^_ j^„^_ p^,.;^_ jg_ ;^3^ ^^3 .-^^gg. 

 Fulica eethiops, ) 



Fulica atrata, ") ^^^^^ ^^ Rosso-Asiat. ii. pp. 158, 159 (1826). 



Fulica puUata, J '^ rr j k ^ 



Fulica platyuros, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 711 (1831). 



Fulica lugubris, Sal. Miill. Verh. Naturl. Gesch. Nederl. Bezitt. iii. p. 454 (1839-44). 



Fulica australis, Gmdd, Proc. Zool. Soe. 1845, p. 2. 



Fulica atra japonica, Temm. Sf Schl. Faun. Japan, p. 120, pi. Ixxvi. (1847). 



Fulica cinereicoUis, MacClell. fide Gieb. Thes. Orn. n. p. 211 (1876). 



The Coot, alttougli not quite so common as the Waterhen, and rather 

 more locals is found in the neighbourhood of slow-running streams, lakes^ 

 and ponds throughout the British Islands. It is a resident on the Outer 

 Hebrides and the Orkneys, but is only an accidental visitor to the Shet- 

 lands, as it also is to the Channel Islands. The Coot is a resident bird in 

 this country, but in severe weather it often shifts its quarters from the 

 inland waters to the coast. 



The Coot is almost as cosmopolitan as the Waterhen, but the American 

 and South-African forms appear to be specifically distinct. It passes the 

 Faroe Islands regularly on migration, is an accidental visitor to Iceland, 

 and has once been obtained in Greenland. In Scandinavia and West 

 Russia it breeds up to lat. 60°, and occurs accidentally further north. lu 

 the Ural Mountains it is found in lat. 57°, and in West Siberia in lat. 55°. 

 In East Siberia it is a summer visitor to Lake Baikal and the valley of 

 the Amoor. It is a summer visitor to East Mongolia, North China, 

 and the north island of Japan; but is a resident in the main island 

 of Japan, South China, and Formosa. It is not known that the Coots 

 inhabiting Australia and Java belong to a distinct species. It is a 

 resident throughout Burma, India^ and Persia, but is a summer visitor to 

 Russian Turkestan, and passes through Afghanistan on migration. In 

 Central Europe it is a resident, but in South Europe it is much more 

 common in winter than in summer. It is a resident in Asia Minor, 

 Palestine, North Africa, and the Azores. It passes the Canaries and 



