F U L 
pafs osrer the heads of the fowlers, and receive a general 
and deflriiflive fire. The fame plan of operation is then 
condii 61 ed at the other end of the lake, where tliofe which 
efcaped have alighted ; and what is fingular, neither the 
clamours of the fportfmen, the report of the niutkets, the 
fpedlacleof the range of boats, nor the death of tlieir 
companions, can urge thefe birds to diftant flight. The 
coot and moor-hen, not being deemed fkjh by the ca¬ 
nons of the church of Rome, were wont to be bought up 
with great avidity by the French people, who ate them 
as a luxury on days of abflinence, however rank and filhy 
an 'Englifh palate miglit deem them, 
Thefe indolent birds have many foes s the moor-buz¬ 
zard fucks their eggs, and plunders their young ; and to 
this deftruffion muft be imputed the fewnefs of their 
.number, conlidering that they are very prolific. The 
coot lays, eighteen or twenty eggs, which are of a dirty 
white, and almoft as large as a hen’s ; and if the firft hatch 
bedeliroyed, the mother has often a fecond, of ten or 
twelve eggs. She builds in deluged fpots covered with 
dry reeds : (he felefts a tuft, on which (heraifes a ftruc- 
ture above tlie level of the water, and lines the cavity 
with little dry herbs and tops of reeds, forming a large 
lhapelefs neft, diftinguirtiable at a diflance. She fits 
twenty-two or twenty-three days, and as foon as the young 
are hatched they jtimp out of the neft, and never return 
again. The mother clierifties them under her wings, and 
■they fleep round her beneath the reeds: (he leads them to 
the water, in which they fwitu and dive well, from the 
moment of their birth. They are covered at firft with a 
fmoky black down, and look very ugly ; only the trace 
is to be feen of the white plate deftined to ornament their 
front. It is then that the bird of prey aflails them fo 
cruelly, and often devoursthe dam and her brood. The 
old coots, which have repeatedly loft their callow ofF- 
Fpring, grow cautious from misfortune, and conceal their 
nefts among the flags on the margin of the pools; and 
keep together their young among thefe thick coverts. 
Thefe alone perpetuate the fpecies 5 for fo great is the 
depopulation of the reft, that a good obferver, who has 
particularly ftudied the oeconomy of the coots, reckons 
that not above one-tenth efcape the talons of the birds of 
prey, particularly thofe of the moor-buzzard. 
The coots breed early in the fpring, and eggs are found 
in their body as foon as the end of winter. They refide 
on the pools the greateft part *of the year, and in fome 
places they are permanent fettlers. Yet in autunm they 
generally leave the fmall pools, and refort to the large 
ones, wliere they aftemble in a great flock ; there they 
often remain till December; and when the fnows, and 
efpecially the frofts, drive them from the higli and chill 
tra6ls, they defcend into the plains, which enjoy a milder 
temperature; and the want of water, rather than the cold, 
conftrains them to ftiift their haunts. M. Hebert faw 
them in a very fevere winter on the lake of Nantau, w hich 
is late in freezing : he faw them alfo in the plains of Brie, 
though in fmall numbers, in the depth of winter. Bur, 
moft probably, the bulk of the fpecies remove by de¬ 
grees to the adjacent countries, which are wanner; for, 
-as their flight is laborious and tardy, they cannot journey 
to any great diftance; and indeed tliey appear again as 
.early as February. The coots are fpread through the 
whole of Europe, from Italy to Sweden ; they are found, 
too, in Afia. They occur in Greenland, if Egede right¬ 
ly tranflates two wo.rds in the language of the natives, by 
the great and little coot. In fatSt, the fpecies confifts of 
two families, which live in the fame lake '.vithout ever 
cohabiting,, and are diltinguiflied from each other folely 
by their bulk, and not by the colour of the frontal plate, 
as fome pretend; for in both, that is ufually white, and 
, becomes red only in the feafon of love. 
This thick naked membrane, which covers the fore 
fide of the head like an efcutclieon, and which made the 
ancients give the coot the epithet of feems to be a 
produiftion. of the upper layer of the iubflance of the bill^ 
I C A, 103 
which is foft, afid almoft flefliy srear the root. The bill 
is faftiioned into a flat cone at the ftdes, and is bluifti 
white ; when in the feafon of incubation, the frontal plate 
aft'iinies its vermilion tint. All the plumage is furnilhed 
with a thick down, covered with very clofe feathers; it 
is of a leaden-black, full and deep on the head and neck, 
with a white ftreak on the fold of the wing; no differ¬ 
ence indicates the fex. The coot is almoft as large as a 
domeftic hen, and its head and body are nearly of the fame 
form ; its toes are half-webbed, fringed fully on both 
fides with a membrane, fcalloped into feftouns, wbofe 
knots correfpond to the joints of the phalanges: thefe 
membranes are, like the feet, of a leaden colour: above, 
the knee a fmall portion of the naked leg iscircled with a 
garterof reddifti yellow ; the thighs are thick and fieftiy. 
Thefe birds live chiefly, as well as the water-hens, on 
aquatic infefts, fmall filh, and leeches ; yet they alfa 
gather feeds, and fwailow pebbles ; their flefti is black, 
moftiy lean, and has a marftiy tafte. Dr. Turton has four 
varieties: i. With the body black, and wings while, 
2. Entirely black ; breaft and belly waved with ferrugi¬ 
nous. 3. Brown; chin, belly, and'primary quill-feathers, 
white; head fpotted with white; upper mandible red. 
4. White; head and wings with a few (pots. 
22. Fulica aterrima, the greater coot : front white ; 
bracelets red ; body blackifti. This is of a larger fize than 
the preceding, but differs not in the colour of the plum¬ 
age, except that it is blacker. Briflbn diftir.guilhes the 
two by the colour of the bare part of the forehead, which 
in this is white ; ai d the garters, which are of a deep 
red. This bird is faid to be found in Lancafhire and 
Scotland. It fhould feem to be a mere variety of the for¬ 
mer, did not authors join in advancing the contrary. 
They are more plentiful on the continent, being found in 
Rufiia and the weftern part of Siberia very common; and 
are alfo in plenty at Sologne and the neighbouring parts, 
where they call \xjuddle. The people eat them, like the 
former, on maigre days, and the flefti is much efteemed. 
23. Fulica leucoryx, the Swedifli coot: this has the 
eyelids pale, and the whole of the wing white, but the 
(hafts of the prime quills black ; in other things it is like 
the common fpecies. It was found dead in the park at 
Stockholm. 
24. Fulica-' 5 ithiops, the ferruginous coot : fize of the 
common one, and differs only in having the feathers of 
the breaft and belly ferruginous, undulated with brown, 
•It was difeovered by Sparrman ; but the place is not men- 
tioned. 
25. Fulica Americana, the cinereous coot: this is 
fmaller than the common coot; bill pale green; bare 
place over the forehead fmaller than in that (pedes, and 
white; plumage above diifky a(h-colour; beneath the 
fame, but paler; chin diifky white ; down tiie middle of 
the belly the fame; legs blue-black; the membranes on 
each fide of the toes much narrower than in any other of 
the fpecies. It is faid to inhabit North America, 
26. Fulica Mexicana, the Mexican coot: fize of the 
greater coot ; bill red, with a yellow tip ; forehead bare 
and red; head, neck, breaft,'belly, thighs, under wing 
and tail coverts, purple ; back, rump, and wing coverts, 
pale green^ varied with blpe and fulvous; quills pale 
green. 1 1 inhabits Mexico. 
27. Fulica cri ft ata, the ere (led coot. (See the Engraving.) 
This is (fill larger than F, aterrima ; bill red a.t the bafe, 
and whitifti the reft of its length ; the-whole crown bare, 
of a deep red, and rifing into a bifid, detached membrane 
like a creft, as in fome of the jacana fpecies -; the whole 
plumage blue black ; legs dufky, and (haped like, thofe 
of the common fpecies. It inhabits MadagaJear, and 
probably China alfo ; as it is feen in fome Chinefe draw¬ 
ings. The garter above the knee is of tiiree colours, red, 
green and yellow ; and the Chinefe name of the bird is- 
tzing kyc. 
FU LrGINOUS,/. \_fuUgineux,fe, Fr. fuliginofus, Lat.j) 
Sooty j fmoky.—Burrage hath an excellent fpirit to re- 
