BALD COOT. 563 



in the evening as you can see to level your gun, taking care, 

 if possible, to keep them under the western light." The 

 same respectable person informs us how to prepare them for 

 cooking : — " The recipe for this is, after picking them, to 

 take off all the black down, by means of powdered resin and 

 boiling water, and then to let them soak all night in cold and 

 spring water, by which they are made to look as white and as 

 delicate as a chicken, and to eat tolerably well ; but, without 

 this process, the skin in roasting produces a sort of oil, with a 

 fishy taste and smell ; and if the skin be taken off, the bird 

 becomes dry, and good for nothing." 



In Shetland the Coot is seldom met with ; but in Orkney 

 it is not unfrequent, and is said to breed and remain through 

 the year. In the Outer Hebrides it occurs in a few lakes in 

 Lewis and Harris, and is plentiful in the Uists. It is also 

 met with in Skye, as Mr. Robert Jamieson informs us. On 

 the mainland, from the extreme north to the English border, 

 it is found breeding in ponds, lakes, and marshes. In Eng- 

 land it is generally distributed, as we learn from the state- 

 ments of authors, and in many localities continues all the 

 year. In Ireland also, according to Mr. Thompson, it is 

 general. On the continent of Europe it extends from Norway 

 to the Mediterranean. In Asia it is said to occur in India, 

 China, and Japan. In America it has not been met with ; 

 but a species very similar, though smaller, occurs there. Its 

 habits, as described by Audubon, are almost precisely the 

 same as those of the European Coot. 



" Although the curious form of their feet, and the situa- 

 tion of their legs, might induce one to suppose these birds 

 incapable of moving on land with ease, experience proves the 

 contrary, for they not only walk with freedom, but can run 

 with great speed when necessary. They are accustomed to 

 leave the water, too, and resort to open lands on the margins 

 of streams and lakes, for the purpose of feeding, both in the 

 morning and in the evening. While ascending the Missis- 

 sippi, being about fifty miles above New Orleans, on the 21st 

 of March, 1822, the weather cloudy, I had the pleasure of 

 seeing about six or seven hundred of these birds feeding on 

 the grass of a savannah bordering the river. I took them 



