PORPHYRIO POLIOCEPIIALUS. 
797 
Distribution . — This species of Blue Coot is very generally distributed over Ceylon as regards the various 
ornithological districts into which the low country may be divided ; but it is local, confining itself, for the 
most part, to tanks and waters which are either overgrown with reeds and other aquatic vegetable growth or 
bordered by the same. Thus in many secluded tanks in the jungle where one would expect to find it it is 
absent, and at others where there are large reed-beds or other tangled vegetation it is abundant, even though 
there be human habitations in the vicinity of its haunt. Of late years, before I left Ceylon, it became quite 
numerous in the Lotus Pond at Colombo, one of the most public waters in the island, where a dense mass of 
Lotus-plants and other weeds afforded it shelter ; and hence it took up its quarters there. It is to be met with 
m the swamps beyond Borella and towards Heneratgoda ; but in general the cultivated parts of the Western 
Pi ovince are not favourable to its habits. On the shores of the southern arm of the Bolgodde or Pantura 
jakc it is not uncommon ; and the fine sheet of water at Ambalangoda has its share, Coots frequenting the 
sequesteied inlets of its inner shores. In other secluded marshes southward towards Matara it is also found. 
° seive d that it was abundant at Sittrawella and Tissa-Maha-Rama tanks, and met with it also in the 
e anai voiale. At the tanks of the Eastern Province it is common; and the Bintenne Lake is also 
requen cc j it. In one spot near Trincomalie, already referred to in this work, namely the Tamara Kulam, 
- ' C1 .‘ V immeiovls > as a lso at Jo poor tank ; and the large Topare tank and other overgrown sheets of water 
ie m ^ ei101 f° mi gieat resorts of this species. I do not know that it extends into Dumbara or ascends 
tfie hills on any other side. 
'Vi i^" mainland we '' nc ^ ^ S enera By distributed throughout India, where there are weedy tanks and 
J cels, extending through Aralcan, Burmah, and the western part of Tenasserim, according to Mr. Hume, as 
ar as 1G X. lat. In the south of the Peninsula we have but little data of its occurrence ; we may, however, 
assume that its distribution is similar there to what it is in Ceylon, for Mr. Bourdillon found it in great numbers 
at the \ e larney Lake, at the base of the Travancore hills. The Rev. Dr. Fairbank, in his list of birds from 
the Khandala district, notes a specimen, on the authority of Mr. Blanford, as having been procured near 
Poona. Messrs. Davidson and Wender state that it is sparingly scattered over the Deccan in suitable localities. 
Mr. Ball says that it occasionally occurs in Chota Nagpur, and cites the Rajmehal hills, Manbhum 
Singblmm, Sambalpur, No w agar h, Karial, and the Godaveri valley as localities where he obtained or observed 
it. Prom Raipur it is recorded by Mr. Hume. In Furreedpore Mr. Cripps says that it is local in its 
distribution, dozens being seen in some places and none in others which seem just as suitable. Captain 
Butler, writing of the Mount- Aboo district and of Guzerat, states that it is uncommon in most parts, but 
very plentiful in some of the tanks overgrown with reeds and dense beds of bulrushes; and Mr Hume 
supplements this by saying that it is common in Sindh and Kattiawar, less so in Kutch, where there are 
not many localities suited to it, and very rare in Jodhpoor; whilst speaking of Sindh he observes that it is 
very abundant in the rush-overgrown lakes. Mr. Oates records it as common in the Engmali swamp in Upper 
Pegu, and as found also at Boulay, but there uncommon. Dr. Armstrong does not note it from the 
L-rawaddy delta. As regards the province of Tenasserim, Captain Wardlaw Ramsay records it from Tonriioo • 
and Mr. Davison from Yeaboo and Assoon. It does not appear to extend to the eastward of the Sittaim 
and is very local m the portions of this district that it does inhabit. 
To the southward of this district there seems to be a long stretch of country down the province from 
wl,ich # is *~ 4 by * w **-* •* — - 
.edifmrtirttSr 1 *?' SP ,“ i “ t0 ™ ,W,ed! “ d " atCTS wl “>> overgrown with reeds and impenetrable 
. ces wi,™ „ w d° ? °“ P. , S ". Ch T‘ S - <°™S *» “ <**-» of such cover) many 
, ,1 one would evpect to And it. It is again a very sociable bird, being quite gregarious in it. habits'- 
and h„ , a another cause winch confine, it to localities whete there is feedtug.groLd and cover for 1,™ 
numbers of its fellows. In a nealeetrd t<inV i;ir„ mi i , . , , ° s 
, , min auk l ' vC lopare, through which the floods speedily pass, but 
leave a large area of shallow water which in tropical climates speedily becomes a tangled mass of Lotus 
reeds, rushes, aquatic plants, and shrubs, the Purple Coot finds a perfect paradise; and dozens mav be seen 
stalking unconcernedly about on the floating leaves and herbage, violently jerking up their tails and sliowhm 
the conspicuous white under- coverts, keeping all the while well out of shot, and appearing to know that the 
5 k 2 
