362 HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA. 



cult to approach. Though they continue associated 

 in numbers for common safety during the day, they 

 disperse in the evening, and repose apart from each 

 other. At daybreak, however, the feeling of solitude 

 again returns, and the early sentinel no sooner gives 

 the shrill and well known call than they all assemble 

 in their usual company. At this time, they are often 

 caught in great numbers by the fowler, with the assist 

 ance of a clap-net, stretched before dawn, in front of 

 the place they have selected to pass the night. The 

 fowlers now surrounding the spot, prostrate themselves 

 on the ground when the call is heard, and as soon as 

 the birds are collected together, they rise up from 

 ambush, and by shouts, and the throwing up of sticks 

 in the air, succeed so far in intimidating the Plovers 

 that they lower their flight, and thus striking against 

 the net, it falls upon them. In this, and most other 

 countries, their flesh, in the autumn, and particularly 

 that of the young birds, is esteemed as a delicacy, and 

 often exposed for sale in the markets of the principal 

 towns. 



The Cinereous Coot (Fulica Americana) appears 

 here among the water birds. This bird, says Nuttall, 

 is found in almost every part of the continent, from the 

 grassy lakes that skirt the Saskatchewan plains, in the 

 55th parallel, to the reedy lagoons of East Florida, and 

 the marshes of Jamaica. To the West, the species seems 

 to inhabit the waters of the Columbia, in the remote 

 territory of Oregon. Mr. Say observed them also in the 

 lower part of Missouri, and in Long's Expedition, they 

 were seen in Lake Winnipique (lat. 42), on the 7th of 

 June. Mr. Swainson has also received specimens from 

 the distant table-land of Mexico. We may, therefore, 

 conclude almost with certainty, that the Coot of 



