COOT — GREAT BUSTARD. 141 



seen on the grassy bank of the reservoir, actively pecking- 

 about like so many barn-door fowls. When walking in 

 autumn down a stubble field, divided from the pool by a tall 

 straggling hedge, some ten or twelve feet high, I have seen 

 the Coots rise one after another like Pheasants, easily clearing 

 the hedge, and dropping with a heavy splash in the water 

 beyond. 



The various stages of plumage which the Coot undergoes 

 in its progress to maturity, appear to be but little known. 

 The yomig when first hatched are clothed in blackish down, 

 with a considerable amount of chestnut about the head, the 

 forepart of the face and head being nearly naked and of a red- 

 dish tinge; when half grown they are dark grey, with the 

 throat, neck, and breast nearly white, losing the white as time 

 goes on, so that by the middle of September it is unusual to 

 see more than merely a little grey on the throat. 



THE COMMON CRANE. 



Gi'its communis. 

 The Crane was formerly not uncommon in Britain, but at 

 the present day is only a very rare visitor. A female was shot 

 at Chimney -ford, near Standlake, in the spring of 1829. 

 [Zoologist, p. 2600.) 



THE GREAT BUSTARD. \ 



Otis fairhi. 



The Great Bustard formerly inhabited ^most of the open 

 countries of the south and east parts of this Island from 

 Dorsetshire as far as the Wolds in Yorkshire ' (Pennant), and 

 in those days, previous to the time of the Enclosures, it was 

 doubtless found upon the open downs of Oxfordshire. From 

 the Lambourn Downs in Berkshire it disappeared soon after 

 1803 (Oni. Bercheria), from the plains of Wiltshire a few 

 years later, while in Norfolk, where it ling-ered late, probably 

 the last indigenous bird was killed in 1 838 (Stevenson.) I have 



