BIRDS HUNTED FOR FOOD OR SPORT. 157 



a stew of old boots flavored with fish oil. " Pardon me," he 

 says, " friends, devotees of the wily coot, my education has 

 been sadly neglected. I can eat sculpin, but do not ask me 

 to eat Coot." 



A cultured Boston lady assures me that when she attempted 

 to cook a Coot it drove everybody out of the house, and that 

 she had to throw away the kettle that it was cooked in. 

 Nevertheless, I have found the yoimg palatable if properly 

 prepared, though hardly equal to the celery-fed Canvas-back. 

 Many Scoters are shot for food and sold in the markets, but 

 large numbers are killed merely for sport, and either left to 

 lie where they fall or drift away on the tide. 



The American Scoter, Black Coot or Little Gray Coot, as 

 it is commonly called, while a common bird, is the least nu- 

 merous of the three Scoters which visit the New England coast. 

 It often reaches Massachusetts in some numbers in September, 

 rather earlier than the other species of the genus, and while at 

 times it keeps by itself it is quite as likely to mix with flocks 

 of the other Scoters. The flight of the Scoters is swift. I 

 have heard it estimated at two hundred miles an hour with a 

 strong wind, but this is probably exaggerated. They may pos- 

 sibly fly at a rate of over one hundred miles an hour under 

 favorable conditions, but this is a high rate of speed for any 

 bird. A flight consisting of this species and the Surf Scoter 

 passes up Buzzards Bay late in May and crosses Cape Cod at 

 the head of the bay, going over into Cape Cod Bay. Earlier 

 in the season there is a considerable flight eastward through 

 Vineyard Sound and around or over Cape Cod. This bird 

 usually flies in lines at some distance from the shore, and the 

 flocks are often led by an old experienced male, who will lead 

 his following high in air while passing over the boats where 

 gunners lie in wait. 



This species, while mainly a salt-water bird in Massa- 

 chusetts, formerly came into some of the fresh-water ponds 

 in large numbers during northeast storms, and is still common 

 in large bodies of fresh water in migration. According to 

 Brewster it has been seen or taken on Spy Pond in Arlington, 

 Fresh Pond in Cambridge and the Mystic ponds in Medford 



