THE RAILS, MOORHEN AND COOT 



543 



rounded wings strike the surface, 

 and their heavy, lobated feet drag 

 through it for some yard or two 

 before they can accumulate suf- 

 ficient power to raise their bodies 

 above the water hne. But ckamsy 

 as they may look in flight, with 

 rapidly vibrating wings and legs 

 stretched out behind, they travel 

 swiftly down \nnd when once well 

 on the way. 



Young birds are grey in the 

 first plumage, with very light neck 

 and under parts ; the nesthngs in 

 black down, with orange-red, white- 

 tipped, hairy filaments on head and 

 neck, are curiously beautiful, and 

 at this stage of their existence 

 make some use of their wing-claw 

 in scurring over floating water- 

 weed. 



Photograph by J. //. F. Cay. 



YOUNG COOTS IN NEST. 



The latter bird is more slaty 

 grey than black, and its fore- 

 head is adorned by an ivory 

 white skin-patch instead of a 

 red one ; the beak is also, in 

 the adult, a pure ivory white, 

 and the bird is far more thickly 

 feathered, and has a much 

 more stumpy tail than a 

 Moorhen, with no white under 

 coverts. It is also wilder and 

 much more gregarious, and not 

 nearly so common or widely 

 distributed ; it requires a larger 

 expanse of water for its less 

 amphibious life, for although 

 Coots often feed and pair on 

 land, and nest amongst the 

 reed-beds, they spend most of 

 their time during the winter 

 in large companies upon the 

 open water, where they can 

 keep a careful watch against 

 danger. Two or three hundred 

 Coots rising simultaneously 

 from the water make an in- 

 describable clatter as their 



Photograph by It'vi, i-'arrcti, Caftibridg-e, 



A COOT ON ITS NEST. 



