546 THE BIRDS OF YORKSHIRE. 



Thomas Allis, in 1844, wrote : 



Fulica atra. Common Coot Nearly extinct about Huddersfield ; 

 not abundant near Sheffield ; occasionally seen near Leeds, at Killing- 

 beck and Walton ; common about Barnsley, Doncaster, and York. 



The Coot is resident throughout most parts of the county, 

 excepting in the manufacturing districts and on the high 

 moorlands, though even on some of the latter it is not altogether 

 absent. It breeds comraonly on the lakes, rivers, and meres 

 in the low-lying parts of the East Riding, being particularly 

 numerous on Hornsea Mere in Holderness. 



In the West Riding it is more local, and scarce in the 

 neighbourhood of the large manufacturing towns, yet Talbot 

 mentioned it as an abundant nester on the reservoirs near 

 Wakefield, and he noted large numbers in February 1872 

 on that at Hiendley. It is described as resident, but not com- 

 mon, on the " Carrs " of Doncaster ; in the Central Plain 

 it nests sparingly on the rivers Nidd and Wharfe, and is 

 fairly common on the lakes at Harewood and Allerton- 

 Mauleverer. It is rather scarce on Fewston Reservoir, but 

 on Malham Tarn is abundant and nests freely, also in Bowland 

 district. Mr. J. Backhouse informs me that, in May 1895, he 

 found a nest containing three eggs, at an altitude of 1,500 feet, 

 at the back of Mickle Fell, in Lunedale. 



In the North Riding it occurs on most of the large ponds 

 and lakes, as at Gormire, Strensall, Pilmoor, Castle Howard, 

 Newburgh Priory, Bedale, and Scarborough, as also in isolated 

 cases on some of the slow running streams. In Wensleydale 

 it breeds on Locker Tarn, at 1,010 feet elevation, and is a 

 rare resident in Teesdale and at Sedbergh. 



In winter, especially during severe weather, when the 

 fresh water is ice-bound, the Coot leaves its accustomed 

 haunts and often appears in most unlikely places ; it is 

 then frequently met with on tidal waters, particularly in the 

 estuaries of the large rivers, and, though not usually classed 

 as a migrant, has even been immolated by flying against the 

 lanterns of the Light-stations on the coast. In the winter 

 of 1901-02 several specimens, killed on the brackish " fleets " 

 during the frost, were brought in to the Redcar taxidermists ; 



