342 RURAL BIRD LIFE. 



forms no exception to the rule. In the first place the 

 coarse grass and water-flags are used, massed, together 

 with very little beauty, it is true, but the skill cannot be 

 questioned. As the nest approaches completion we find 

 the reeds and flags much finer, and the cavity which 

 contains the eggs is lined with the finest materials. In 

 this very often water-surrounded and floating home the 

 mother Coot sits upon her eggs. They are from eight 

 to twelve in number, stone colour, with deep brown and 

 black specks, seldom or never blotched, and are about the 

 size of a Pheasant's egg, only rather different in shape. 



Silence is the protective power the Coot most fre- 

 quently displays, and the sitting bird either glides quietly 

 off into the reedy fastnesses the instant she becomes 

 aware of your approach, or remains crouching low and 

 motionless, trusting in her silent wiles for safety. 



The young of the Coot do not exhibit the bare patch 

 on the forehead, nor do they until the following season 

 gain it in the same perfection as their parents. We 

 have not as yet the slightest idea as to the cause of this 

 baldness or of the purpose it serves, and which may be 

 said to be analogous with the bare patch at the base of 

 the bill of a mature Rook, although I admit they bear 

 but little resemblance. It might be urged that the 

 Coot's incessant collision with the herbage when grazing, 

 or against the stems and roots of the water plants, cause 

 this absence of feathers. But then we must bear in mind 

 that the Moorhen should, if this were really the case, be 

 bald also. Many of the secrets which existed in the 

 life history of birds, and their functions and anatomy, 

 have been made plain, and doubtless in the dim and 

 distant future, when the science of ornithology approaches 

 the acme of its perfection, the as yet unaccountable 

 baldness of the Coot and naked skin of the Rook will 

 satisfactorily be accounted for. 



