386 EALLID^. 



deal in the amount and intensity of the colour of the markings, and 

 while a few have large bold blotches and dashes, in the majority 

 none of the blotches exceed the eighth of an inch in diameter." 



The eggs are always pretty thickly spotted, blotched, and 

 occasionally streaked with a rich, almost lake, red, besides which ' 

 there are a number of somewhat pale purple blotches, clouds, and 

 spots, which have more or less the appearance of lying beneath the 

 surface of the shell. When quite fresh, these are very lovely eggs, 

 but the ground-colour and markings alike fade in the course of a 

 comparatively short time. 



The shells are firm and compact, but the eggs have little or no 

 gloss. 



In length the eggs vary from 1-76 to 2-15, and in breadth from 

 1-23 to 1-45; but the average of fifty-three eggs is 1-93 by 1-39. 



Fulica atra, Linn. jfAe Coot. 



Fulica atra, Linn., Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 715 ; Hume, Rough Draft N. 

 4- E. no. 903. 



The Coot breeds throughout India in large j heels and lakes 

 that contain ^\"ater all the year round. Tou may search vast 

 lakes during the rainy season without finding a single bird, but 

 you will always find that these are pieces of water that dry up 

 entirely during part of the year ; certainly in no lake in India are 

 there such multitudes of Coots as in the Muuchur Lake in Sind. 

 They may be found in the Himalayas up to elevations of 6000 or 

 even 8000 feet, and breed plentifully, — for instance, in the lakes 

 in Cashmere. The nests are sometimes large conical masses of 

 reed, rush, and weed, very strongly built in the midst of rice or 

 rushes in water from 6 to 18 inches deep, but based upon the 

 ground and rising several inches above the water-level. One that 

 I measured was 3 feet in diameter at the base, 2 feet high, and 

 about 11 inches in diameter at the top, where there was a depres- 

 sion or shallow cup some 8 inches across and 3 inches in depth ; 

 others, built in shallower Mater, are of course proportionally less 

 massi^'e and less broad at the base. Sometimes they are placed on 

 dry ground in thick reeds just at the water's edge, and are not 

 above 6 inches high. Sometimes they are more or less floating, 

 having been built on a platform of lotus-leaves and down-bent, 

 over-crossing rushes and reeds. 



Whatever the situation, the upper 4 or 5 inches are much the 

 same, composed of rush and flags, with a shallow depression on 

 the top, in lining which rather finer materials than those made use 

 of in the exterior are employed. 



In the plains I have found their eggs only in July and August. 

 In the hills they breed in May and Julie. 



The greatest number of eggs that I have met with has been ten, 

 but it is quite common to meet with only seven or eight ftdly- 

 incubated eggs. 



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