Order RALLIF0RME8 
No. 64. 
FamUy RALLIDM. 
PORPHYRIO MELANOTUS BELLUS. 
BLUE BALD COOT. 
(Plate 59.)* 
PoEPHYRio Belltjs Gould, P.Z.S., p. 176 (1840), Western Australia. 
Porphyrio bellus Gould, P.Z.S. , p. 176 (1840) ; id., B. Austr., VI., PI. 70 (1848) ; id., Handb. 
B. Austr., II., p. 322 (1865) ; Biggies, B. Austr., PI. 107 (1877) ; Ramsay, P.L.S., 
N.S.W., I., p. 193 (1876) ; id., ib., II., p. 199 (1877) ; id.. Tab. List Austr. B., p. 21 
(1888) ; Campbell, Viet. Nat., V., p. 161 (1889) ; Campbell, Nests and Eggs Austr. 
B., p. 756 (1901) ; Hall, Key B. Austr., p. 78 (1906) ; Mathews, Handl. B. 
Austral,, p, 13 (1908) ; Ogilvie-Grant, Ibis, p. 187 (1910). 
Bistribution. South-western Australia. 
Adult male. Back, wings, and tail glossy blackish-brown ; lesser wing-coverts ultramarine- 
blue, forming a shoulder patch ; median- and greater-coverts like the back ; bastard- 
wing, primary-coverts, and quills blackish, with blue on the outer webs ; innermost 
secondaries like the back ; chin, lores, fore-part of cheeks, crown of head, hind-neck, 
and sides of neck blackish ; mantle purplish-blue like the lower-breast, sides of body, 
and outer portion of thighs ; middle of abdomen and inner-portion of thighs sooty- 
black ; throat and upper-breast verditer-blue ; axillaries blackish, tinged with 
verditer-blue ; lesser under wing-coverts verditer-blue, greater-coverts glossy black, 
like the quills below ; under tail-coverts pure white ; “ Frontal plate and bill scarlet ; 
iris red-hazel, tarsi and feet olive-green ” (T. Carter). Total length, 480 mm. ; 
culmen, including frontal shield, 70 ; wing, 293 ; tail, 110 ; tarsus, 97, 
Adult female. Similar to the adult male, slightly less, but not so brilliantly coloured. 
Nestling. Black ; bill bluish, the base pink ; eyes deep brown, eye-lid pink ; feet brown. 
Nest. Similar to that of the Tasmanian Bald Coot (P. melanotus fletchercB), p. 243. 
Eggs. “ Clutch, five (about) ; stout oval in shape ; texture of shell somewhat coarse ; 
surface glossy ] colour deep stone, fairly blotched and spotted with brown and 
purphsh-brown of different shades. Bimensions in inches 2.3 to 2.2 by 1.65 to 1.59 ” 
(Campbell) . 
Breeding season. August to November (Ramsay). 
Mr. Tom Carter tells me that this species occurs in the dense vegetation 
growing on the banks of water-courses and swamps throughout the south- 
west of Western Australia, and that he has also shot it at Albany. 
The bird figured and described is a male, collected by Mr. Carter at Albany 
on February 8th, 1905. 
* The Plate is lettered Porphyrio bellus. Large Blue Coot. 
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