COOT. 545 



The nidification habits of this bird have frequently been 

 commented upon, strange nesting sites being occasionally 

 placed on record, of which Yorkshire can claim its share ; 

 there are numerous instances of nests being found in bushes 

 and on the branches of high trees, but perhaps a more curious 

 situation is reported from Masham, where, in 1885, a bird 

 was discovered incubating an egg in a hole of a tree eight 

 feet above the ground. A case of dual occupation came under 

 notice at Strensall Common in 1882, the partners in the nest 

 being a Moorhen and a Coot ; and in the same locality, in 1880, 

 a nest contained twenty-six eggs, of three distinct types, 

 doubtless the produce of three different females ; eggs streaked 

 like a Bunting's have also been observed. 



Of variations in plumage, the only example which has 

 come under my observation is a buff-coloured specimen, 

 in the collection at Thicket Priory, taken on the Derwent 

 near that place. 



The local names are not many : Water Hen is used gener- 

 ally by country people, and Bilcock and Biltor are north 

 country terms. 



[Examples of the PURPLE GALLINULE (Poryphyrio cceruleus), 

 have been reported at Easington, near Spurn, in September 

 1897, and at Bedale in the autumn of 1903 ; but, as this 

 species is frequently kept in semi-captivity, these individuals 

 are probably escaped birds.] 



COOT. 

 Fulica atra 



Resident, generally distributed, and common, except in manufactur- 

 ing districts and the western fells, where it is not numerous. 



The earliest reference to the Coot in Yorkshire is, so far 

 as is known, that in Graves's " History of Cleveland " (1808), 

 where it is enumerated in the list of resident birds. 



