202 THE BIRDS OF SHERWOOD FOREST. 
rail, which had killed itself by flying against the tele- 
graph wires on the Hull and Selby Railway, on the 
banks of the Humber. 
The Coot (Fulica atra) is a plentiful species on all — 
our sheets of water, but is especially abundant on the 
large lake which is so great an object of beauty in 
Thoresby Park, and which contains nearly one hundred 
acres. It is about a mile in length, and on the southern 
side is bounded for about two-thirds its extent by a 
wood called the Lawn Plantation. A strip of this along 
the bank, covered with grass and reeds, and planted 
with shrubs, is allowed to grow undisturbed, and is a 
favourite resort of the coot at all times of the year. 
Here they breed without molestation, as well as on the 
island which is just opposite, and which I have men- 
tioned as the breeding-place of the heron. 
The nest is usually formed of a large mass of rushes 
and flags placed on the water amongst the growing 
reeds, but raised a sufficient height to keep the eggs 
dry ; it is sometimes, though more rarely, placed on the 
ground, and I once found a nest, containing nine eggs, 
which was built on the trunk of a tree which grew on the 
bank of the island, but which had gradually fallen over 
until the trunk rested on the surface of the water. On 
this trunk, between two small boughs projecting upwards, 
a coot had piled a large quantity of flags. This was on 
the 13th of May; and while rowing down the side of 
the island we found, behind a projecting point, seven 
young ones, which could not have been hatched above 
a couple of days; they were accompanied by the mother, 
but we came on them so suddenly that she, with great 
alarm, took to instant flight, leaving her young family. 
With these we were greatly amused; for though they 
