BIRDS HUNTED FOR FOOD OR SPORT. 223 



seen in summer in Massachusetts and Vermont, and may 

 breed. Reports from Massachusetts observers for an average 

 of about twenty-seven years, previous to 1909, representing 

 every county in the State, show apparently that ten observers 

 beHeve that this species has increased in their locahties and 

 that sixty-seven beheve that it has decreased. Six of the ten 

 who have seen an increase apparently are mistaken in the 

 name, and refer to the Surf Ducks or Scoters, which are 

 commonly known as Coots on our coast. 



The Coot quite closely resembles the common or Florida 

 Gallinule, but has not the red bill of that species, and its feet 

 are lobed somewhat like those of the Grebes. Nevertheless, 

 it is not so distinctly formed for swimming as the Grebes; its 

 legs are rather long and placed well forward, and it seems to 

 be a sort of connecting link between the land birds and the 

 swimmers. It walks and runs on land as easily as a Rail, and 

 yet it spends much of its time on the water. The French 

 name, Poule Weau, and the American name. Water-hen, give 

 the general impression regarding this species. It is a good 

 swimmer, but usually when swimming it moves its head for- 

 ward with each stroke, as a hen often hitches her head forward 

 when walking. It is a fine diver, and sometimes almost equals 

 the famous Canvas-back in diving for the roots of the wild 

 celery. It is fond of flooded meadows and savannas, sloughs, 

 swamps, morasses, and swamp-bordered ponds, where, when 

 danger threatens, it can flee to the shelter of the reeds or cat- 

 tails, where it is as much at home as a Rail or a Gallinule. It 

 is naturally a most innocent and unsuspicious bird. When 

 wading waist deep in the flooded lands of Florida, for want of 

 a more genteel method of Duck hunting, I often have been 

 amused at the unsophisticated and foolish expression of the 

 Coots which swam around me, often within easy gunshot, 

 hitching forward on the water as if anxious to see what kind 

 of an amphibious creature kept them company. In my boy- 

 hood I have seen ponds apparently entirely covered with a 

 black mass of these birds. A sudden alarm would cause a 

 tremendous uproar of flapping wings and splashing feet as the 

 members of the vast flock hastened to cover, but in a few 



