AMERICAN COOT—-MUD-HEN, HELL-DIVER. 198 
CHAPTER XX. 
AMERICAN COOT—MUD-HEN, HELL-DIVER. 
WEBSTER defines a fowl to be, “a vertebrate animal, 
having two legs and two wings, and covered with 
feathers, or down; a bird.” This definition is far 
reaching and admits of a generous construction, and 
one needs absolute freedom of analysis in attempting 
to classify Coots—or, as we call them in the West, 
*mud-hens ” and ‘ hell-divers *—as wild fowl. The 
universal opinion of Western hunters is, that they are 
a harmless nuisance, neither fit for sport nor food. 
*Tis true they are bipeds, winged animals, but are a 
poor excuse for meat—only to be tolerated when the 
larder is empty, and the cravings of a strong stomach 
demand flesh for sustenance. At such a time a 
person could shut his eyes, fix his thoughts far off, 
accept this food sent him in the way of manna, transfer 
himself to the days of Biblical times, imagine himself 
an Elijah, not fed by ravens, but feeding on mud-hens. 
Under such circumstances, a person ought to get along 
fairly well, providing he can keep his thoughts at all 
times removed from the existing condition of things. 
Perhaps Iam incompetent to sit as judge, and condemn 
these birds, when an honest confession forces me to 
admit I never tasted them. My opinion is based en- 
tirely on hearsay,—incompetent in a legal sense, but in 
a gastronomical one, sufficient for all practical purposes. 
Frequently they are eaten by hunters, and with—so 
they say—great relish. They claim they taste some- 
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