122 Northern Observations of Inland Birds 



In the same locality I knew one male coot who built 

 several nests for his own amusement while his mate 

 was sitting her eggs. Exactly what his idea was it is hard 

 to say ; evidently the building fever had taken a firm 

 hold of him, and having made a start he could not stop. 

 However, I fancy his wife would have turned up her 

 bald nose at most of the nests he built, for they were 

 anything but remarkable for neatness. Certainly they 

 required the finishing touches of the feminine hand. 

 This curious habit of building for the sake of the thing 

 is not uncommon in bird Hfe. 



Coots migrate during severe winters, but few of them 

 travel overseas unless the conditions are exceptionally 

 violent. One winter thousands of them took up their 

 abode during a cold snap in the salt water marshes of 

 the Norfolk coast, and it is to be noticed that quite the 

 majority of them leave our Highland lochs as winter 

 comes. Many remain on the more sheltered lochs of 

 the Lowlands — indeed during a mild winter great numbers 

 migrate from the north to these quarters and to the more 

 sheltered lakes of Westmorland and Cumberland, though 

 a long cold snap will cause them to forsake even these 

 retreats and to seek the coast. 



We can hardly conclude this chapter without mention 

 of one other bird, the water-rail. It is a very beautiful 

 little bird, but it is so secretive in its ways that few people 

 are acquainted with it. The name water- rail is usually 

 taken as another name for the moorhen, but the two are 

 entirely different. 



The water-rail is more often heard than seen. Like 

 Wordsworth's cuckoo, it is little more than a wandering 

 voice — far more so than the cuckoo. In disposition it 

 has much in common with the landrail, except that it 

 does not migrate except in the same sense as the word 

 applies to the coot. I have heard them flying in the skies 



