The Coot. 255 



it in quickness of movement in the water. Dr. Stanley 

 tells how the coot differs from the waterhen in the 

 building of its nest. The coot prefers having it float- 

 ing on the surface, and not supported on stems of 

 rushes, &c., but that it may rise with the water, and 

 not be moved away from its position by stormy winds ; 

 it is, as it were, moored to stems of reeds or rushes, 

 by a kind of loose rings, so that it will rise exactly as 

 the water rises. Both coots and waterhens, as has 

 been already said, cover their eggs in the nests on 

 rising from and leaving them, and this they do, with 

 such an artistic eye to carelessness of effect, that you 

 might look on one of their nests and fancy it was a 

 deserted one. A thick foundation of rush leaves and 

 other matter is formed under the coot's nest proper, to 

 keep it from damp. This bird lays from six to nine 

 eggs, which are like those of the waterhen, but larger. 

 The poor coot has suffered much in late years, owing 

 to a belief, whether well or ill founded, that it eats the 

 spawn of fishes ; and when once an idea of this sort 

 gains ground among the sporting community, and is 

 taken up by the rustics, alack for the poor incriminated 

 bird. It matters not what good qualities it may have 

 otherwise, it is doomed, as water voles and owls were 

 for so long doomed by farmers and others. 



The mallard and the teal are both largely night 

 feeders. They resort after twilight to favourite spots, 

 where their tit-bits grow and half play themselves on 

 the water, and sleep and rest through the day. 



The ducks are broadly divided into surface and diving 

 ducks ; the first class mostly confine themselves to fresh 

 water, and the latter are properly sea-fowl. In addition 

 to those which we have already named, there are the 

 shoveller and the sheldrake. The second class includes 



