16 HILLSIDE, ROCK, AND DALE 



feeds in a half-hearted, lazy kind of way. Coots 

 swim slowly out from shelter and look well around ; 

 one gives a contented-sounding note, and goes 

 towards its nest among the bushes at the farther 

 end of the lake. The coot is the sentinel of any 

 lake or piece of water on which it is found. All 

 water - birds seem to understand the language of 

 coots. Let anyone watch for a time a stretch of 

 water on which there are plenty of waterfowl, in- 

 cluding coots. If one of the coots thinks there is 

 cause for alarm, he calls beck (danger), and all the 

 birds in sight will slink away to the shelter of reeds. 

 But wait until the coot swims out and calls penf-pciif 

 (all right, all right), why, the ducks and moor-hens 

 will show themselves, and even the shy dabchick will 

 pop his head above water and commence to play on 

 the unrippled surface. So it is on the occasion of 

 our early morning visit ; for the appearance of the 

 coots is a signal to others that all is clear. A heron 

 flying over, seeing the coots out and about, turns in 

 his flight, circles round the island, and lands near the 

 water ; then for ten minutes he stands motionless 

 with head erect, watching intently the fields and 

 hedgerows round about ; then he lowers his head 

 and walks slowly towards the reeds. Stepping 

 lightly through these he enters the water, putting 

 his feet down so gently and slowly that no trace 

 of a ripple is made, and there he stands, silent and 



