RAILS, GALLINULES, AND C(H )TvS 



215 



made a new dance for society, it can beat even 

 the celebrated dancer, for it is practiced on a 

 peculiar floor, the surface of the water — as the 

 flock flutter away, pattering with their feet as 

 they go. 



The favorite haunts of the Coots are the 

 shallow ponds or bogs, where reeds or rushes 

 grow from the water. In such places they make 

 their nests, which are platforms of dead stems 

 woven together in a sort of wicker-basket fashion, 

 piled up from the bottom of the water, and 

 f)artlv supported by the stems of the atjuatic 

 jdants, being rather deeply hollowed. The eggs 

 number from seven or eight to fourteen or six- 

 teen, and are distinguishable bv the small 



If there is a more amusing liird anywhere, T 

 should like to see it ! 



Though the Coot is rather tame, it is difticult 

 to see it on the nest, but it is easy to watch it 

 swim away, bobbing its head after the a])proved 

 fashion of the skittering fraternity. Numbers 

 breed, scattered about, in the same slough. On 

 migration thev are seen mosth' in small parties, 

 or often singl}-. They breed from the northern 

 .'states north, and in winter are abundant in 

 swampv parts of the southern States where they 

 gather in large flocks. 



In Louisiana I found them in great numbers in 

 winter on the fresh-water marshes. When I 

 "baited a blind," to photograph wild Ducks, it 



Phototjraph by H. K. Job 



Courtesy ot National Association ut Audubon Societies 

 COOTS AND TEALS 

 The Ducks used the Coots as buffers for danger 



" pepper-spot " markings evenly sprinkled over 

 them. One egg is laid each day and incubation 

 begins with the first egg. Consequently they 

 hatch one by one, each youngster promptly leav- 

 ing the nest to swim off, probably to be tended by 

 the other parent. 



The young are singular creatures, covered with 

 a sort of black down with orange-colored hairs 

 projecting from the neck and head, the latter 

 being bald on top, and the bill and adjacent parts 

 bright red. I have hatched some in incubators 

 and reared them to maturity. At first small and 

 feeble, they become active and bold, rushing at 

 me and shrieking for food with raucous screams. 



was always the Coots which ventured up first to 

 try the food. The Ducks used them as butfers 

 for danger, and swam up after the Coots proved 

 to them that it was safe. They often came up on 

 the steps of the camp to get food, and were 

 known to walk into the house, perhaps thinking 

 they heard the dinner-bell. 



They are easily kept in captivity, but in the 

 breeding season are said at times to make a 

 rather too free use of their shar[) bills. How- 

 ever, their odd ways make one laugh, and 1 

 recommend the funny Coot as an antidote for 

 " the blues." 



Hekbeut K. Iob. 



