GREY-LAG GOOSE. 339 



occasions have mistaken it at sea for a black duck, especially in the 

 uncertain light of daybreak. Fishermen, and others who have 

 catered for my collection, have also at different times brought me 

 Coots as " foreigners," which they had obtained at a considerable 

 distance from the shore. I attribute their appearance there to 

 their impatience of snow and ice. The gallinule, on the contrary, 

 when frozen out, mixes freely with the poultry or ornamental 

 water fowl, and feeds with them in grateful silence on the good 

 things provided. Pennant says in his ' British Zoology,' (vol. ii., 

 8vo ed. 1768, p. 393), that he has seen the channel near South- 

 ampton covered with Coots, and that in his time they were often 

 taken to market, " where they were exposed for sale without t>heir 

 feathers, and scalded like pigs." It would, no doubt, require 

 skilful treatment to divest the bodies of the black down, which 

 must certainly mar the appearance of a featherless Coot. 



The nest of this species is, in some places, especially marshes 

 subject to sudden overflow, a large and compact pillar-like struc- 

 ture, composed chiefly of the stems of water plants. I have seen 

 examples built entirely of a species of Equisetum, and raised fully 

 two feet above the surrounding vegetation. The work of building 

 must be quickly performed, as one which I examined last year on 

 a bit of marshy ground, near the banks of Loch Lomond, and 

 which was remarkably well put together, was constructed of 

 Equisetum stems as fresh as if they had been gathered but a few 

 hours previously. 



Dr Saxby states that the Coot is occasionally met with during 

 the winter season in Shetland, but in Orkney it appears to be 

 resident all the year. 



NA TA TORES. A NA TID^E. 



THE GREY-LAG GOOSE. 



ANSER FERUS. 

 Geadh-glas. 



BEING a permanent resident in the Long island, this species is 

 perhaps the best known of all the wild geese which frequent that 

 extensive district. At one time it had been one of the commonest 

 birds in the marshy tracts of the south of England; but since 



