AN OCTOBER DIARY. 29& 



back, as though I was tlie first man of the season, for it 

 uttered a cracked cackle of derision, and, diving sud- 

 denly, disappeared. Not for long, though. I had ex- 

 cited the bird's curiosity, and back it came. On the 

 opposite side of the creek, of course, but where it could 

 see me plainly enough. Then, as it floated on the still 

 waters, it took me in from top to toe, again laughed de- 

 risively, and disappeared. I waited for half an hour, 

 but the coot failed to return. 



Coots, or "crow-ducks" as my neighbors persist in 

 calling them, are curious creatures. They never give 

 one, in this locality, sufficient opportunity to study them ; 

 coming and going, as they do, in the most erratic man- 

 ner. I am moderately confident of but one fact con- 

 cerning them : they migrate at night ; and at such a 

 time, if they choose, can fly with great rapidity. Some 

 years ago, while spending the night upon Poaetquis- 

 fiings, for the double purpose of studying certain fishes 

 and the night herons, I was, at one time, considerably 

 frightened by a coot. While experimenting with a lan- 

 tern in illuminating deep water, that I might observe 

 the fishes, a body, falling directly from above, struck 

 the water within a few feet of me, with the force of a 

 cannon-ball, and disappeared. It was after midnight, 

 dark as pitch, and in as lonely a spot as any in the county. 

 I. was more than merely startled, I was frightened; 

 but consoled myself directly that the falling object was 

 probably a meteorite, and a second was not likely to fol- 

 low ; and while slowly gathering my scattered senses, I 

 was again shocked by a sudden commotion beneath the 

 surface, the disarrangement of my illuminating apparatus. 



