RALLID.1:. 



505 



THE COOT. 



FuLicA ATRA, Linnaeus. 



The Coot is found upon most of our large ponds, lakes and 

 sluggish rivers throughout the British Islands; though in East 

 Anglia, owing to successive drainage of its breeding-haunts, it is 

 less plentiful than it formerly was. It is, however, still abundant 

 on the broads of Norfolk, as well as on Slapton Ley in Devon, 

 where large numbers are killed at the annual battues ; also on 

 Southampton Water, and in Poole Harbour and other parts of Dor- 

 setshire ; while on the Nene, in Northamptonshire, Lord J-ilford 

 says that it has increased. As a rule it is resident, remaining 

 throughout the winter even in the Hebrides and Orkneys ; though 

 only a straggler to the Shetlands. When the inland waters are 

 closed by frost it migrates to tidal estuaries and the sea-coast. 



To the Fcxroes this species is a tolerably regular visitor, and it 

 occasionally wanders to the south-west of Iceland, while a solitary 

 example has even reached Greenland. On the coast of Norway, 

 which is warmed by the Gulf Stream, the Coot has been found up 

 to 70"" N. lat., and it nests in the southern districts of that country 

 and of Sweden, as well as along the shores of the r>altic, as far as 



