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ORD. II. GENUS II. COOT. 



Bill, fhort, ftrong, thick at the bafe, Hoping to the end : the bafe of the upper man- 

 dible rifing far up the forehead : both mandibles of equal length. 

 Nostrils, inclining to oval, narrow, fhort. 

 Body, comprefled. Wings, fhort. 

 Toes, long, fumifhed with broad fcalloped membranes. 

 Tail, fhort. 



SPECIES I. COMMON COOT. 



PI. 196. 



Fulica atra. Lin. Syjl. I. p. 257. 



La Foulque, ou Morelle. BriJ. Orn. VI. p. 23. 



This bird is as large as a fmall fowl ; fifteen inches in length, upwards of two feet and 

 half in breadth, and weighs from twenty-four to twenty-eight ounces. The bill is 

 greenifh white : the forehead, bare, and white, except in the pairing feafon, when it ac- 

 quires a reddifh tinge : the colour of the plumage is black on the upper parts, with a 

 tinge of afhen grey on the back ; and dark afh-coloured on the under parts : the outer 

 edge of the wing, white : legs, yellowifh green, with a circle of yellow above the knee : 

 toes furnifhed on each fide with a broad fcalloped membrane, but not indented on the 

 edges as in the phalarope. 



The female is not quite fo large as the male, and more of a rufty brown on the breait. 



We have fcarcely a bird more generally found about watery places than this ; and in 

 none is it more numerous than in the Me of Sheppey, where the inhabitants think it 

 good food, and will not fuffer its eggs to be taken. It makes a very large neft of weeds 

 well matted together ; lines it with grafs, and often lays fourteen eggs, for a reprefenta- 

 tion of which fee PI. XLII. Fig. 2. 



