GALLICEEX. 261 



Length. — 18 inclies, wing 10 to 10*2, tail 4<-b, bill at gape 1'62, tarsi 

 3'62, mid- toe 3' 62 ; casque and spot at base of bill cherry red, bill red, 

 irides red, legs crimson. 



Hab. — Throughout India and Ceylon, also in Persia, Beloochistan 

 and Afghanistan. Common in Sind in suitable localities, but I do not 

 believe they are anywhere as numerous as on the Munchur Lake, where, 

 among the rushes, they are with the bald coot, simply innumerable. 



Breeds in the Province from May to September, making a nest of 

 rushes, &c., in the reedy grass. Eggs prettily marked on a greenish 

 ground with spots, blotches and streaks of a reddish colour, lake red 

 or rich red. 



Gen. Pulica. 



Bill moderate ; nostrils lateral ; casque small ; wing with a tubercle at 

 the shoulder ; tail short ; toes with lobate membrane. 



Pulica atra, Linn.; P. R 197; Oould. B. Em: pi. 338; Jerd. B. 

 Ind. iii. p. 715; Murray, Hdbh., Zool., 8fc., Sind, p. 223. — The Bald 

 Coot. 



Upper plumage black ; hoary, dark ash, lead colour or dusky brown 

 below; a spot below the eye, and the outer edge of the wings white; 

 frontal disc or casque white; also the bill, which, in the breeding 

 season, is tinged pale red ; irides blood red ; legs dull green, with a 

 yellow, green and red garter in the breeding season. 



Length. — 15 to 16 inches, wing 7'5 to 7'75, tail 2, bill at gape 1*41. 



Sah. — Throughout India and Ceylon, also Europe (Central and South) 

 Egypt, Assam, Nepaul, Persia, Beloochistan and Afghanistan. In 

 Sind it is numerous in suitable localities, but on the Munchur Lake, 

 as Mr. Hume says [Str. F. vol. i. 249) " they would have to be counted 

 not by thousands, but by hundreds of thousands ***** You can 

 shoot nothing without knocking over some of these wretched coots." 

 He also adds " that in no part of the world has he even seen such incre- 

 dible multitudes of coot as are met with in Sind; in the Munchur 

 Lake par excellence," 



Gen. Gallicrex. — Blyth. 



Bill as in Gallinula, with the base of the bill extending on to the 

 forehead and forming a fleshy protuberance ; toes long ; hind toe and 

 claw about half the length of the mid-toe, claws curved. 



Gallicrex cinereus, Gm. ; Blyth, Cat. 1660 ; Jerd. B. Ind. iii. 

 p. 716; Str. F. ii. 300; iii. 187; vi. 466; Murray, Edhh., Zool., Sfc, 

 Sind, p. '223.(Eorah, Sind). — The Water Cock. 



Male in Breeding Plumage. — Dull black, the feathers of the back, 

 wing-coverts, rump and upper tail-coverts more or less edged with 

 light brown ; tertials dark brown, edged with pale whitey brown ; edge 

 of the wing white ; quills dusky, the shaft of the 1st quill white ; 

 tail blackish brown, the outer feathers edged with pale brown ; lower 



