COMMON COOT. 343 



shore ; sometimes a small island clothed with grass 

 and other coarse herbage is selected ; frequently the 

 nest is a floating structure, moored securely to reeds or 

 flags ; less often it may be found amongst the tangled 

 vegetation on the dry bank, but close to the water's 

 edge. It is usually a bulky structure, the foundation 

 often built at the bottom of the water, and then carried 

 upwards from a few inches to a foot above the surface. 

 Most of the nest is a mere heap of rotten aquatic 

 vegetation of all kinds, at the top of which a shallow 

 cavity is formed, and lined with finer and drier- material. 

 The Coot sits lightly, and when alarmed slips very 

 quietly off the nest into the water, and skulks amongst 

 the vegetation until all is safe again ; but the bird never 

 attempts to conceal the eggs by covering them. 



Range of egg colouration and measurement: 

 The eggs of the Coot are from six to twelve in number, 

 seven or eight being an average clutch. They are 

 buffish-white or very pale clay-buff in ground colour, 

 sprinkled, speckled, and dusted over most of the surface 

 with dark blackish-brown, and with underlying markings 

 similar in character of violet-gray. But little variation 

 is presented, except in the tint of the ground colour. 

 Average measurement, 2T inches in length, by r3 inch 

 in breadth. Incubation, performed by both sexes, lasts 

 from twenty-one to twenty-three days. 



Diagnostic characters : The eggs of the Coot 

 are readily distinguished from those of all other species 

 breeding in our area, by their size and fine markings 

 sprinkled over most of the surface. 



