198 WADING BIRDS. 



The Coot of America, so very similar to that of Europe, 

 according to the season is found in ahnost every part of the 

 continent, from the grassy lakes that skirt the Saskatchewan 

 plains, in the 55 th parallel, to the reedy lagoons of East Florida 

 and the marshes of Jamaica. To the west, the species seems 

 to inhabit the waters of the Columbia, in the remote Territory 

 of Oregon. Mr. Say observed it also in the lower part of Mis- 

 souri, and in Long's Expedition it was seen in Lake Winnipeg 

 on the 7th of June. Mr. Swainson has also received speci- 

 mens from the distant tableland of Mexico. We may there- 

 fore conclude almost with certainty that the Coot of America, 

 indifferent to climate, dwells and breeds in every part of the 

 North American continent, over a range of probably more than 

 fifty degrees of latitude ! Nocturnal in their habits, and dis- 

 persing themselves far and wide over every watery solitude, 

 these birds seem in many places to have disappeared for the 

 season, until they in large numbers, swelled by their prolific 

 broods, and impelled at the approach of winter to migrate for 

 food, now begin to show themselves in the lakes, pools, and 

 estuaries in the vicinity of the sea, from which they gradually 

 recede towards the South as the severity of the season compels 

 them, being unable to subsist amidst the ice. In this way 

 they proceed, accumulating in numbers as they advance, so 

 that in the inundated and marshy tracts of Florida, particularly 

 along the banks of the St. Juan, they are seen in winter, con- 

 gregated in vast and noisy flocks. In the milder latitudes, 

 their whole migrations will be hmited to a traverse from the 

 interior to the vicinity of the sea, while those which visit the 

 wilderness of Upper Canada, where they are abundant in the 

 summer, will probably migrate from twenty-five to thirty 

 degrees every spring and autumn. 



The Coots arrive in Pennsylvania about the beginning of 

 October. They appear in Fresh Pond, Cambridge, about the 

 first week in September. A pair took up their residence in 

 this small lake about the 15 th of April; and in June they are 

 occasionally seen accompanied by their young. The nest, eggs, 

 and manners during the period of reproduction are yet 



