COMMON COOT. 141 



the coast of Devon. They feed on small fishes, aquatic 

 insects, and various portions of vegetable matter. Copts 

 breed in many parts of England, forming a nest of flags, 

 among reeds, upon the margins of lakes, ponds, and rivers. 

 Mr. Hewitson says, that "he has had opportunities of 

 examining many of their nests. They are large, and 

 apparently clumsy at first sight, but are amazingly strong 

 and compact ; they are sometimes built on a tuft of rushes, 

 but more commonly amongst reeds ; some are supported by 

 those that lie prostrate on the water, whilst others have 

 their foundations at its bottom, and are raised till they 

 become from six to twelve inches above its surface, some- 

 times in a depth of one and a half or two feet. So firm 

 are some of them, that, whilst up to the knees in water, 

 they afforded me a seat sufficiently strong to support my 

 weight. They are composed of flags and broken reeds, 

 finer towards the inside, and contain from seven to ten 

 eggs." These are stone colour, speckled over with nut- 

 meg-brown, two inches one line in length by one inch six 

 lines in breadth. Bewick mentions that a Bald Coot 

 built her nest in Sir W. Middleton's lake, at Belsay, 

 Northumberland, among the rushes, which were after- 

 wards loosened by the wind, and, of course, the nest was 

 driven about, and floated upon the surface of the water, 

 in every direction ; notwithstanding which, the female 

 continued to sit as usual, and brought out her young upon 

 her movable habitation. Some broods appear towards the 

 end of May, others in June. The young quit the nest 

 soon after they are hatched, and leave it entirely after 

 three or four days, to follow their parents, who are very 

 careful of them. 



Sir Thomas Browne of Norwich, when writing of British 

 Birds, about 1635, says, "Coots are in very great flocks on 

 the broad waters. Upon the appearance of a Kite or 



