118 SHOOTING. 



pretty closely woven together. It is placed in some comer or 

 chink by the side of water, or upon the stump of an old tree root. 

 She lays seven eggs, which are about two itiches in length, of yel- 

 lowish' white hue, marked with a good many irregularly placed 

 spots of a reddish colour. Some writers affirm that during incuba- 

 tion, she never leaves the nest without covering_ the eggs mth 

 leaves. She has two, and sometimes three hatchings during the 

 summer. The young ones take to the water very soon after they 

 leave the sliell. 



The length of the bird is about fourteen inches, and the breadth 

 twenty-two. It weighs from twelve to fifteen ounces. The bill is 

 red, with a greenish yellov/ tip, and about an inch long. The head 

 is small and black, cxcei^t a wliite spot under each eye. The irides 

 are red. The colom- of the plumage is sooty-black, tinged with 

 shining ohve green. The outer edge of the Aving, outside feathers 

 of the tail, and under-tail coverts, are of a dirty white appearance. 

 The legs of a pale yellow to dark green. _ Their toes are very long, 

 their sides are broad, and furnished vfith membraneous edgings, 

 which enable the moorhen to svnm, and run rapidly over the surface 

 of shmy mud. Its feathers are tliickly set, and bedded in down. 



The moorhen is difficult to shoot in the water; it dives the 

 moment it sees the flash of the gun. The best method of kiUing it 

 is to aim a httle below it in the water ; this is often found effectual 

 by sportsmen. 



The Coot {FulicaAtra, Linn.) — This bird is well known through- 

 out England, and permanently resides here. Its common weight 

 is about twenty-eight ounces, and it is fifteen inches in length. The 

 biU is of a greenish white hue, and about an inch and a quarter in 

 length. The irides are red. The upper portion of the plumage is 

 black, except the outer edges of the wings, and a spot under each 

 eye, which are white. The under parts of the body are of a hoary- 

 dark ash or lead colour. The skin is protected with a coat of thick 

 down, and covered with feathers closely bedded together. The 

 thighs are placed far behind^ and are strong, fleshy, and yellow 

 above the knees. 



The common coot has so many _ features in unison with tlie 

 water-rail and moorhen, that many writers have considered them as 

 belonging to the same species. Others again describe the coot as a 

 distmct genus, chiefly on account of its being fin-footed, and from 

 its_ constant attaclunent to the water, wliich it seldom leaves. 

 Withthis bird naturalists commence to arrange the general tribe 

 of SAvimmers, and place it among those that are the most completely 

 dependent upon the watery element for their subsistence. It 

 swims and dives with as much ease as almost any other of the 

 aquatic tribes, and, also, hke those which seldom venture on land, 

 it is a bad traveller, and may be said not to travel, but to splash 

 and waddle between one water and another, with a laboured, ill- 

 balanced, and awkward gait. 



The Greater Coot {FuUca Aterrima, Lmn.) — This bird is of a 



