SHOOTING THE SALT-WATER COOT 155 
guided by their instinct of safety, fled south. A single 
or even a few flocks wouldn’t count, but when all the 
flocks in the danger zone start south at the same time, 
it certainly goes to prove they know by scent that a bad 
storm is approaching. That’s why there is always a 
flight of wildfowl the day before a storm.”’ 
“Your argument sounds all right,”’ said I, and as all 
eyes were fixed on me, I thought it must be my turn to 
say something. ‘‘Ducks certainly cannot hear or see 
a storm coming a day in advance, but I once saw a chap 
that could smell a coot for about five minutes, better 
than any coot could scent a coming storm. It’s true, 
too—happened right here and I was only two boats 
away and saw it all. 
“A strange coot shooter from somewhere back in the 
woods rowed out alone early one morning and secured 
a good place in the front line. He was a fine shot but 
made himself unpopular by criticizing the ‘lost’ birds 
of fellow shooters in nearby boats. Near the end of the 
morning’s flight, the stranger had a shot at a flock 
flying almost overhead and killed two. Rising to his 
feet, he turned round watching to see if another bird, 
that was hit hard and rapidly dropping behind the rest 
of the flock, would fall, when one of the dead birds, 
coming from the clouds, struck him in the back and 
knocked him to his knees. He got up rubbing his 
shoulder and I'll bet the laughter that went up along the 
line did not soothe his feelings any.”’ 
The blonde gentleman then spoke up and said, ‘‘I am 
not quite so sure as George seems to be, about coots 
scenting coming storms, but I do know they scent things 
up pretty well around the house when being parboiled. 
I carried home four coot once, to see, aS an experiment, 
if they would taste as good at my own fireside as they 
