FULICA AUSTRALIS, Gould, 
Australian Coot, 
Fulica Australis, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part XIII. p. 2. 
n 
Mool-ya-win-doo (Ugly Nose), and 
Gid-jee-hroon, of the Aborigines of the lowland districts of Westei’n Australia. 
That a true Coot should be found to inhabit Australia need not be a matter of surprise, when we have 
seen how many of the forms hitherto considered to be peculiar to the northern hemisphere are repre- 
sented in that country ; and in no instance is this law more interestingly carried out than in the present, 
since the two birds are not only identical in form, but are so precisely alike in their habits and general 
economy, that the admirable accounts of Messrs. Selby, Yarrell, &c., of those of the European bird are 
equally descriptive of those of the Australian. Its favourite places of resort are the inland waters of the 
country, which it seldom quits unless to seek for a more abundant supply of food, consisting of aquatic 
insects, small shelled mollusks, &c. Like our own Coot it constructs a floating nest of decayed aquatic 
plants, upon which it deposits its eggs and rears its young. 
It has often struck me that there are two species of Coot inhabiting Australia, for I possess specimens in 
my collection exhibiting differences which appear to me to warrant their being considered as distinct, the 
propriety of which must, however, be confirmed or refuted by future observation : should they ultimately 
prove to he two species, then the range of the bird here represented will extend over Western and Southern 
Australia and Van Diemen’s>Land, and that of the other over New South Wales. 
Head and neck black ; all the upper surface greyish black ; under surface sooty black ; irides bright 
red ; bill light bluish grey ; crown of the head greenish white ; legs and feet french grey. 
The figure is of the natural size. 
