COOT. . . . 101 



ately begins pecking away right and left, which she continues 

 to do until the enemy is so near that she is compelled to 

 decamp for her own preservation. In this short time, how- 

 ever, she almost always contrives to cover her eggs; and 

 though the nest itself remains a very conspicuous object, a 

 careless observer might pass it as deserted and empty.' 

 Quarrels arise among different birds sometimes at the spring 

 of the year, for the choice of a situation. 



The eggs are from six. or seven, to ten or even fourteen 

 in number, of a light dull yellowish, or greenish pale brown, 

 or stone-colour, spotted with small rust-coloured spots. If 

 the first hatch be taken or destroyed, a second is produced, 

 but in less numbers. 



The young almost immediately leave the nest to run about, 

 and after a few days entirely forsake it, unless the weather 

 is unseasonable, in which case they return to it at night 

 for a week or two, the old birds carefully tending them as 

 long as necessary. The hen covers them with her wings. 



The plumage is well adapted to resist water. Male; 

 weight, from a pound and a half to two pounds; length, 

 one foot three or four inches, or more up to one foot six 

 different individuals varying in size; bill, dull white, with a 

 tinge of red in the spring; over its base is a white unfeathered 

 patch, which contrasts beautifully with the sable hue of the 

 rest of the plumage. Iris, red; surrounding the lower part 

 of the eye is a small semicircular streak of white; head on 

 the back part of the crown, neck, and nape, deep black, 

 with a tinge of ash-coloured grey; chin, throat, and breast, 

 deep ash grey tinged with bluish. Back, black, with a tinge 

 of ash-coloured grey, the shafts darkest. 



The wings have a white line on the bend; underneath they 

 appear, in some lights, of a silvery grey colour; the shafts of 

 the feathers are darker than the rest; greater and lesser wing 

 coverts, black, with a tinge of ash grey; primaries, nearly 

 black; secondaries, also black, tipped with white, making a 

 narrow line across the wing. The legs, which are placed 

 very far backwards, but appearing still more so than they 

 really are from the way they are bent, have an orange band 

 above the knee; below it, they and the toes are greyish 

 ash-colour, with an olive green tinge about the joints of 

 the former, and the edge of the lobed webs of the latter; 

 they are very long, and the claws sharply hooked. Old 

 birds become blacker in colour. 



