COMMON COOT. 125 



The authors of the Catalogue of Norfolk and Suffolk 

 Birds notice the breeding of the Coots on those large 

 pieces of water in the marshes of Norfolk called Broads, 

 and on some of them in considerable numbers. " In 

 autumn and winter these birds make their appearance on 

 the rivers in vast flocks ; and upon an appointed day all 

 the boats and guns are put in requisition, and a general 

 attack is made upon them. On the banks of the Stour the 

 fowlers approach them, while sitting upon the ooze, by 

 concealing themselves behind a skreen made of bushes, 

 which is placed upon a sledge and driven before them. On 

 crossing the Stour in the month of January, in a dead 

 calm, we observed the Coots floating upon the water in a 

 semicircle. On our approach within about two hundred 

 yards, the whole body, amounting at the least calculation 

 to several thousands, partly rose and flapped along the 

 surface of the water, making a tremendous rushing noise. 

 Had there been any wind, they would have risen into the 

 air without difficulty ; but, there being none, they could 

 scarcely disentangle their feet. We killed two wounded 

 birds ; one of them afforded excellent sport, not suffering 

 the boat to approach it without diving, and coming up 

 oftentimes a hundred yards off: it had the action and 

 alertness of a Dobchick." Sir William Jardine says, 

 Coots have a very powerful flight when once on the wing, 

 and fly with their legs stretched out behind, acting the 

 part of a tail, in the manner of a Heron. In Scotland and 

 the north of England they arrive in the marshes and lakes 

 to breed, and retire again at the commencement of winter 

 to the more southern coasts. Here, in the south, these 

 birds are very numerous at several different places, par- 

 ticularly on the shores and inland waters of the Isle of 

 Sheppy, at the mouth of the Thames ; in the Southampton 



