238 THE BIRDS ABOUT Us. 



England States, and yet the time they are absent 

 from the Middle States is quite short, for they are 

 seen early in April and often late in November. In 

 September, or perhaps mid-August, the coot begins to 

 become common in the Delaware Valley, and many 



tarry through our 

 Indian summer in 

 November, if we 

 have one; but they 

 do not all desert 

 the Middle States 

 Coot i n the early spring. 



They breed on 



Crosswicks Creek, in Burlington County, New Jersey, 

 and have done so for years ; and during the past sum- 

 mer (1893) I observed a pair on the Delaware River 

 in the early part of July, and saw others in the first 

 few days of August. The nest of the coot is made 

 of reeds and placed among them, being safely secured 

 to the growing stems, but not, as has been stated, so 

 fixed that it rose and fell with the tide. 



Coots, as I have observed them in New Jersey, 

 are both diurnal and nocturnal, always prefer deep 

 water, frequent mill-ponds, are not shy, and do not 

 leave the water except by flight, or very rarely. Oc- 

 casionally they wander up ditches leading into the 

 creeks, and so get farther inland than usual. If sur- 

 prised, they dive and swim down the ditch with in- 

 credible velocity, and soon find their way into the 

 open water. As an article of food coots are abso- 

 lutely worthless. 



