COOT 



103 



Coot. (After Swaiuson.) 



Latin Fulica (in polite French, Fotdqne) is probably allied to fnligo, 

 and lias reference to the bird's dark colour.^ The Coot breeds 

 abundantly in many of the larger inland waters of the northern 

 parts of the Old World, in winter commonly resorting, and often 

 in great numbers, to the mouth of rivers or shallow bays of the 

 sea, where it becomes a general object of pursuit by gunners 

 ■whether for sport or gain. At other times of the year it is 

 comparatively unmolested, and being very prolific its abundance is 

 easily understood. The nest is a large mass of flags, reeds, or 

 sedge, piled together among rushes in the water or on the margin, 

 and not unfrequently contains as many as ten eggs. The young, 

 when first hatched, are beautiful little creatures, clothed in jet- 

 black down, Avith their heads of a bright orange- scarlet, varied with 

 purplish-blue. This brilliant colouring is soon lost, and they begin 

 to assume the almost uniform sooty-black plumage which is worn 

 for the rest of their life ; but a characteristic of the adult is a bare 

 patch or callosity on the 

 forehead, which being 

 nearly Avhite gives rise 

 to the epithet "bald" 

 often prefixed to the 

 bird's name. The Coot 

 is about 18 inches in length, and ^\■\\\ sometimes weigh over 

 2 lb. Though its wings appear to be short in proportion to its 

 size, and it seems to rise with difficulty from the water, it is 

 capable of long-sustained and rather rapid flight, which is performed 

 with the legs stretched out behind the stumpy tail. It swims 

 buoyantly, and looks a much larger bird in the water than it really 

 is. It dives with ease, and when wounded is said frequently to 

 cKitch the weeds at the bottom with a grasp so firm as not even to 

 be loosened by death. It does not often come on dry land, but 

 when there, marches leisurely and not A\dthout a certain degree of 

 grace. The feet of the Coot are very remarkable, the toes being 

 fringed by a lobed membrane, which must be of considerable assist- 

 ance in swimming as well as in walking over the ooze 

 they do like mud-boards. 



In England the sport of Coot-shooting is pursued to some extent 

 on the broads and back-waters of the eastern counties, and in 

 Southampton Water, Christchurch Bay, and at Slapton Lay, and is 

 often conducted battue-fashion by a number of guns. But even in 

 these cases the numbers killed in a day seldom reach more than a 

 few hundreds, and come very short of those that fall in the officially- 



authority for stating, never wrote it), of the " chasse aux Macreuses " to the 

 Scoter instead of the Coot. 



^ Hence also we have Fulix or Fuligula applied to a Duck of dingy a})pear- 

 ance, and thus forming another parallel case. 



acting as 



