ii8 Northern Observations of Inland Birds 



Though the coot is closely allied in many ways, in 

 character it is a very different bird from the moorhen. 

 That it is more essentially a water bird is proved by the 

 nature of its feet, for while, like the moorhen, it is 

 possessed of immensely long toes, these toes are further 

 equipped with lobes or fins which serve to grip the water, 

 and are yet another step in the direction of web-footedness. 

 Complete wxbs would, of course, be a sore trial to any 

 bird given to running about in woodlands — or, rather, 

 any bird possessing complete webs would not run about 

 in woodlands. 



I have said that while being a larger bird, the coot 

 seldom frequents small areas of water, but prefers the 

 wider sheets, where great numbers can often be seen 

 floating and diving far out from the shore (the moorhen 

 seldom ventures far from the reeds). It is one of the 

 most pugnacious of birds, and though to a certain extent 

 gregarious, there seems to be no harmony of opinion in 

 the coot population of a given area. Early in the spring 

 they agree to disagree, and forthwith proceed to do so 

 till the severity of the next winter gives them something 

 else to think about. They may be observed day after 

 day chasing each other hither and thither across the 

 surface, flying, aUghting, scolding, cursing, w^orking them- 

 selves and each other into a state of bristling fury, and, so 

 far as the dull human eye can perceive, all about nothing 

 at all ! 



Coots are well able to look after themselves. Over 

 two centuries ago Sir Thomas Brown was accused of 

 being an exponent of fiction when he described that 

 these birds, on being attacked by a hawk or an eagle, 

 at once gather into large companies, whereupon their 

 enemy, descending upon them, is baflfled and driven 

 back by a maelstrom of water lashed into the air by the 

 wings of the threatened birds. Certainly this reads like 



