COOT. 425 



once, and only once, alluded to, under date of 1583 

 " Itm a watter hen kylled wt the gun." A first victim 

 evidently to the then ne\v weapon of destruction, and 

 affording- to the unskilled gunner of those days, the easy 

 shot still sought for by the school boy or other tyro in 

 the use of firearms. 



FULICA ATSA, Lronajus. 

 COOT. 



The Coot, though an abundant species in Norfolk, 

 is not so generally distributed as that last described, 

 preferring the open waters of the broads and meres, 

 extensive lakes, and large reedy ponds, to the smaller 

 coverts that content the more familiar water-hen. 

 Except in close vicinity to the broads themselves, it 

 is seldom seen on our rivers, but in the neighbourhood 

 of Surlingham and Rockland, on the Yare, its peculiar 

 cry may be heard from the deep sedgy ronds ; and in 

 the wilder portions of the Bure and the Ant, winding 

 their sluggish course through the very heart of the 

 Broad district, this bird abounds in the reedy borders, 

 and is heard and seen at every bend of the stream. 

 It is plentiful, also, in the Fen districts, both to the 

 south and south-west of the county, and a few breed 

 annually in more central localities, such as Scoulton 

 Mere, the haunt of the black-headed gulls ; and on such 

 of the meres about Wrethain as afford sufficient harbour. 

 Even Foulmere, though but a short distance from a farm- 

 house with all the busy sounds of human habitation, has 

 attractions for this species, in a belt of rushes at one 

 end of the water, but not so Ringmere or Langmere, 

 though situated on a still wilder portion of Wretham 

 heath. A few, I believe, are also to be met with in 

 3 i 



