NOETll AMERICAN MARSH BIRDS 363 



the foxtail grtiss, both favorite duck foods. In California, according 

 to John G. Tyler ( 1913) , it still further annoys the duck hunters by eat- 

 ing the grain thrown out to attract the ducks. In some duck clubs coots 

 have become such a nuisance that mud-hen shoots have been inau- 

 gurated, at which sometimes as many as 5,000 coots have been killed 

 in a day. Dr. Alexander Wetmore (1920) has seen a coot, at Lake 

 Burford, "eating algae and slime that had collected on dead tule 

 stems floating in the water. It fed eagerly on this material, seizing 

 and stripping one piece after another." 



Its animal food includes some small fishes, tadpoles, snails, worms, 

 water bugs and other insects, and their aquatic larvae. It has even 

 been known to pluck the feathers off and partially eat dead ducks. 

 A bird, dissected by Doctor Wetmore (1916) in Porto Rico, had 

 eaten "'a number of small crustaceans, and a large mass of eggs 

 belonging probably to other crustaceans"; another "had catena 

 large quantity of grass or sedge, with a few small roots." 



Behavior. — There is much that is interesting in the behavior of the 

 coot, characteristic of and pecuhar to this curious bird. The name 

 of "spatterer" has often been applied to it on account of its well- 

 known habit of rising noisily from the water ; running along the sm*- 

 face, it beats the water with wings and feet, splashing alternately 

 with its heavy paddles and making the spray fly, until it gains suffi- 

 cient momentum to fly; it has been suggested that this and other 

 noisy splashing antics are of use to frighten its enemies or warn 

 its companions. When well under way its flight is strong and direct, 

 much more vigorous and swifter than the fhght of gallinules; the 

 neck is extended, with the conspicuous wliite bill pointing shghtly 

 downwards, and the feet are stretched out behind, with the toes 

 pointing upwards, to serve as a rudder in place of the useless little 

 tail. The white tips of the secondaries show up well in flight as a 

 good field mark. It flies usually near the water, or 10 or 15 feet 

 above it, and seldom makes long high flights except when migrating. 

 It is much more Ukely to escape by swimming or by scurrying off 

 over the surface than by rising and flying away as the ducks do. 

 It is ordinarily not a shy bird, unless persistently hunted. 



It is a strong rapid swimmer, floating higher in the water than the 

 ducks or the gallinules, with the back more level, less submerged for- 

 ward. When either swimming or walking it nods its head in step 

 with its foot movements, like a dove or a hen. Its white bill, in con- 

 trast with its black head, fairly gleams in the sunhght, an excellent 

 fleld mark. 



On land the coot walks about actively, often in a hunched-back 

 attitude suggestive of the guinea fowl ; its lobed feet give it a firm 

 footing on soft ground, but do not impede it on flrmer soil. Dr. 



