Coot, 435 
and many thus escape by swiftness of foot; but whether 
thus endeavouring 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- 
eratory 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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