BIRDS OF NEW YORK 



287 



ist to the 1 6th of May; a few remain to breed in the Montezuma marshes 

 and about the eastern end of Lake Ontario. Some seasons quite a number 

 of them are found; other years they seem to be entirely absent as summer 

 residents. They also breed in the Newark marshes of New Jersey, and Mr 

 Hendrickson thinks that they have bred in company with the gallinules 

 at Long Island City. In fall, migrant coots begin to appear in numbers 

 from the 15th to the 20th of September and the few which are not killed 



Nest and eggs of American coot. (From Bird-Lore. Photo by Bent) 



by our gunners disappear from the ist to the 20th of November, occasional 

 stragglers remaining well into December. 



Coots swim as lightly and easily as ducks and are occasionally seen 

 on the wide waters of our lakes and bays. They prefer the shallow lagoons, 

 however, near the shelter of dense reeds and flags, whither they retreat when 

 danger threatens them. When rising from the water they patter for a long 

 distance on its surface until they have gained sufficient momentum to 

 launch themselves in the air, when they fly oflf at a low elevation with legs 

 stretched backward very much in the manner of rails and gallinules. 



