Order RALLIFORMES 
No. 68. 
Family RALLIDJSl. 
FULICA ATRA AUSTRALIS. 
AUSTRALIAN COOT. 
(Plate 61 .) 
Fulica australis Gould, P.Z.S., p. 2 (1845), Western Australia. 
FuUca australis Gould, P.Z.S., p. 2 (1845) (published 1846) ; id., B. Austr., VI., PI. 74 (1848) ; 
id., Handb. B. Austr., II., p. 329 (1865) ; Castelnau and Ramsay, P.L.S., N.S.W., 
I., p. 386 (1876) ; Ramsay, ib., I., p. 193 (1876) ; id., ib., II., p. 199 (1877) ; id., Tab. 
List. Austr B., p. 21 (1888) ; North, Austr. Mus. Cat., No. 12., p. 326 (1889) ; Sharpe, 
Cat, B. Brit. Mus., XXIII., p. 217 (1894) ; North, B. County Cumb., p. 108 (1898) ; 
Keartland, Trans. Roy. Soc. S. Austr., XXII., p. 189 (1898) ; id., B. Melb. Dist., 
p. 118 (1900) ; Hall, Key B. Austr., p. 78 (1899) ; id., ib., p. 78 (1906) ; Campbell, Nests 
and Eggs Austr. B., p. 758 (1901) ; BuUer, Suppl., I., p. 75 (1905) ; Berney, Emu, VI., 
p. 109 (1907) ; Mathews, Handl. B. Austral,, p. 14 (1908) ; Ingram, Ibis, p. 614 (1909) ; 
Ogilvie-Grant, ib., p. 186 (1910) ; Littler, Handb. B. Tasmania, p. 118 (1910). 
Fulica tasmanica Grant, Tasm. Joum,, II., p. 310 (1846). 
Fulica atra Schlegel, Mus. P.-B., V., Ralli, p. 60 (1865) {partim). 
Distribution. Australia generally ; Tasmania, 
Adult male. General colour plumbeous-grey, paler and duller on the under-surface ; head 
.«;and neck all round black ; bastard-wing, primary-coverts, and quiUs dark brown ; 
edge of wing white at base of outer primary-quill ; under tail-coverts black, greater 
under wing-coverts and quiU lining slaty-grey, “ Bill pale bluish-grey ; iris brick- 
red, feet steel-grey ” (W. Stalker). Total length, 390 mm ; culmen and frontal shield, 
42 ; wing, 187 ; tail, 45 ; tarsus, 55. 
Adult female. Similar to the adult male but paler in colour, more especially on tl^^ under- 
surface. Total length, 324 mm. ; culmen, 40 ; wing, 191 ; tail, 47 ; tarsus, 55, 
“ Young in down are black, having yellow hair-like tips, the down thickest about the face 
and neck ; biU, cream-colour ” (Campbell). 
Nest. Large, loose structure, composed of reeds and rushes ; placed near the water. 
Dimensions 15 inches by 8 inches deep ; egg cavity 8 by 3 deep. 
Eggs. Clutch about six or seven ; smooth and glossy ; stone-colour, minutely dotted with 
black, evenly over the entire surface. Axis, 44 mm,; diameter, 33. 
Breeding season. August to February (North) ; September to November (Miss Fletcher, 
Tasmania), 
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