THE COOT 83 



stitution, a good digestion, prolificness, and wariness, 

 enable the coot to thrive, in spite of its showy Hvery. 

 The first three of the above characteristics enable the 

 species to contend successfully with cHmate and 

 disease, which are checks on the increase of organisms 

 far more potent than predaceous animals. It is also 

 possible — but this has yet to be domonstrated — 

 that the coot, although edible, is not considered a 

 dehcacy by birds of prey, and so is taken when nothing 

 more dainty is obtainable. If this be the case, it could, 

 of course, minimise the disadvantages of the coot's 

 conspicuousness. But even then there is no evading 

 the fact that the blackness of the coot is an un- 

 favourable characteristic. 



