36 THE RIVER-SIDE NATURALIST. 



doubt eat small fish occasionally. Some years since, whilst 

 watching the coots on the Lake of Lucerne, we saw one of 

 these birds seize a bleak and eat it. It happened thus : 

 There was a great scamper amongst a large shoal of bleak 

 arising from the dash of a pike or trout, and one appeared 

 to be injured, and kept jumping out of the water. A coot 

 immediately rushed at it, seized it, and after killing it by 

 hitting it on the surface of the water, swallowed it. 



It was amusing to see some of the old male birds, too 

 lazy to dive for their own dinner, carefully watching the 

 younger ones busy at the bottom of the river, and the 

 moment they rose to the surface with beaks full of weeds 

 give chase, and, like the skua amongst the gulls, force 

 them to relinquish their hard-earned meal, which these 

 thieves then eat at their leisure. Half paddling, half fly- 

 ing, the coots run, as it were, on the surface of the water 

 when chasing each other, bringing to mind the words of 

 Burns : 



" The wanton coot the water skims ; " 



but when alarmed they can fly with great rapidity. 



The coot is about eighteen inches long. The plumage 

 is of a purply sooty-black, with a tinge of grey in certain 

 lights ; the secondary wing-feathers are tipped with white, 

 forming a kind of bar. The beak is flesh-colour, the sides 

 crimson, the patch on the forehead almost pure white, the 

 legs, toes, and membrane green, an orange band above the 

 tarsal-joint. 



THE WATER-RAIL. 



Another of the family Rallidce is the WATER-RAIL (Rallus 

 Aquaticus), Velvet-Runner, Shilty-Cock, Dar-Cock. 



Being a very shy bird, it is not often seen, carefully 

 concealing itself when danger is near. We have been 

 fortunate enough to flush it occasionally both in Wiltshire 

 and in Scotland. It flies much like the moor-hen, with 

 hanging legs, to no great distance, and when alighting 

 runs rapidly and seeks the shelter of high grass and reeds. 



