COOT SHOOTING IN NEW 

 ENGLAND. 



NEW YORK, Oct. 12. 



IN a recent number of Forest and Stream 

 "M. H. Able" asks if the "coots" 

 which the Eastern gunners works so hard 

 to get are the same as the mud-hens of 

 the Western States. One day's shooting 

 in line would convince our friend that he 

 was not shooting mud-hens, but that big, 

 sturdy sea-ducks, worthy of his lead, were 

 carrying off ounces of his Number 4 

 shot. The ducks which are called coots 

 along the coast consist of three or four 

 species. The male surf-ducks are called 

 skunkhead coots, and their wives and 

 yearlings gray coots. The velvet scoter is 

 known as the white-winged coot, and the 

 American scoter is the butter-billed coot. 

 The eiders, also, are dragged into the 

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