THE COMMON COOT 233 
adds that of perching on trees ; this it does habitually, as it roosts 
in low bushy trees ; and it has besides the power of walking cleverly 
along the branches. 
In the neighbourhood of houses where it has long been undis- 
turbed, it loses much of its shy nature, and will not only allow 
itself to be approached within a short distance, but, becoming 
half-domesticated, will consort with the poultry in the farm-yard, 
and come with them to be fed. It is fond also of visiting the 
kitchen-garden, where it is apt to make itself unwelcome, by help- 
ing itself to the tenderest and best of the vegetables. Bishop 
Stanley, in his entertaining Book on Birds, gives some highly 
amusing anecdotes of the Gallinule. 
It builds its nest on the stump of a tree, or in a bush among 
wet places, or in the roots of alders, but often it is placed on the 
low-lying branch of a tree overhanging the water. The nest is 
a large structure, made of rushes and dry flags, and is easy of 
detection. It is very liable, too, to be swept away by any sudden 
rise in a river. Added to which, the young frequently fall a prey 
to pike. But as the bird has two, and sometimes three, broods 
in a year, each consisting of from six to eight, it remains undimin- 
ished in numbers. The nest is sometimes placed in a tree at a 
distance from the water. When this is the case, as the habits of 
the young birds are aquatic, immediately on their breaking the 
egg, the old birds convey them in their claws to the water. An 
instance is recorded in the Zoologist of a female Gallinule being 
seen thus employed carrying a young one in each foot; it has been 
observed, too, that in such cases the male bird builds a second 
nest, near the water’s edge, to which the young retire for shelter 
during the night, until they are sufficiently fledged to accompany 
their parents to their ordinary roosting-places in trees. 
THE COMMON COOT 
FULICA ATRA 
Upper plumage black, tinged on the back with grey ; under parts bluish grey ; 
frontal disk large, pure white; bill white, tinged with rose-red ; irides 
crimson ; feet grey, tinged with green; part of the tibia orange-yellow. 
Length sixteen inches. Eggs brownish, speckled with reddish brown. 
THE Coot, seen from a distance, either on land or water, might be 
mistaken for a Gallinule, flirting up its tail when it swims, jerking 
{ts head to and fro, and when on land strutting about with a pre- 
cisely similar movement of all its members. On a nearer examin- 
ation, it is clearly distinguished by its larger size and the white 
bare spot above the bill, in front, from which it is often called 
the Bald-headed Coot. It is only during the summer season that 
the two birds can be compared; for while the Gallinule remains 
