COOT. 435 



and many tlius escape by swiftness of foot ; but whether 

 thus endeavourmg to save its life, or quietly picking its 

 way over the '' hoves " in summer, and feeding as it 

 walks, all unconscious of danger, I could never perceive 

 the awkwardness in its gait, remarked by some authors, 

 although, like the water-hen, it has peculiar and dis- 

 tinctive actions. 



I have no doubt that many of our home-bred birds, 

 when frozen out on the broads and rivers, proceed south- 

 wards for a time, and swell the numbers that accumu- 

 late in hard winters about Poole harbour and other 

 well-known resorts ; there is no question, also, that 

 our own flocks are largely increased at times by mi- 

 gratory arrivals. The so-called Salthouse "Broad," 

 and marshes, were formerly a great resort of coots 

 during the autumn and winter. In September, 1842, 

 Mr. Dowell observed a flock there, numbering some five 

 hundred birds, but which was not considered at all a 

 large quantity, as hundreds would sometimes arrive in 

 one night. Overton, the well-known gunner on that 

 part of the coast, always remarked that no matter what 

 number of these birds might make the shore in the 

 night, they would all arrive singly, dropped about, here 

 one and there one, but in the morning they collected 

 together into dense flocks. On their first arrival, also, 

 they always swam close together, so that twenty or 

 more might be killed at a shot, but after a day or two 

 they separated when feeding, and still more so when 

 alarmed according to their ordinary custom; in this 

 respect differmg much from the habits of most wild- 

 fowl. The spring migration commonly takes place in 

 March, when, preparatory to our residents pairing off 

 for the season, the coots are again seen in large bodies 

 upon our broad waters, and even then, as before stated, 

 fresh attacks are not unfrequently made upon them. 

 Varieties of this species are so rarely met with that I 

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