256 THE WILD-FOWLER. 



Coots prefer fresh-water, and never forsake a chosen haunt until 

 fairly frozen out, when they take to their salt-water retreats. 



Their habits, in some respects, are the very reverse of other wild- 

 fowl : for instance, coots feed by day and roost at night their 

 accustomed places of repose being among reeds, rushes, or 

 sedges by the water-side, or on some secluded island about their 

 haunts. 



No water-fowl have suffered more, nor been so completely driven 

 from their places of refuge by the drainage system as coots : these 

 birds used to breed by thousands in the fens and broads on the 

 eastern coast ; and though there are still a great many bred annually 

 in this country, yet in no proportion to the numbers of years 

 gone by. Their nests, too, are now plundered ; and their eggs, as 

 well as those of scores of other water-fowl, are sent to the market, 

 and all are called " plovers' eggs !" Such is the innocent deception, 

 practised with impunity, upon those who are fond of, and can afford, 

 such luxuries, but who may not be familiar with the size and colour 

 of the genuine plovers' eggs. 



Coots are sometimes so reluctant to leave a favourite haunt (such 

 as a decoy, where they are always a nuisance), that they may be 

 driven to and fro like sheep, and will put up with a good deal of 

 noise and threat rather than leave the pond. 



The call-note of this bird represents the sound of the word 

 " krew !" or kreow !" 



