718 THE COOT. 



The COMMON COOT, or BALD COOT, as it is sometimes called, is another of our 

 familiar British water-birds, being seen chiefly in lakes, large ponds, and the quiet banks of 

 wide rivers. 



The habits of the Coot much resemble those of the water hen, and it feeds after a 

 similar fashion upon molluscs, insects, and similar creatures, which it finds either in the 

 water or upon land. It is an admirable swimmer, swift and strong, and can grasp the 

 branches firmly when perching, owing to the contraction of the foot, which is furnished 

 with a wide flattened membrane on the edges of each toe, thus presenting a broad surface 

 to the water, and at trie same time permitting the foot to be used in grasping. The Coot 

 may be seen either swimming or traversing the floating weeds in search of food, or wandering 



\ 



COOT. Fulica atra 



over the fields with quick but rather eccentric gait, pecking here and there at the herbage, 

 and devouring a great quantity of destructive insects, snails, and slugs. When a very 

 severe winter has frozen the ponds and lakes, the Coot will make off to the nearest coast, 

 and along its unlocked shores obtain a living until the warm breezes of spring have 

 loosened the icy body of its more congenial haunts. 



The nest of the Coot is a huge edifice of reeds and rank-water herbage, sometimes 

 placed at the edge of the water, and sometimes on little islands at some distance from 

 shore. I have often been obliged to wade for thirty or forty yards to these nests, which 

 have been founded upon the tops of little hillocks almost covered with water. The whole 

 nest is strongly though rudely made ; and if the water should suddenly rise and set the 

 nest floating, the Coot is very little troubled at the change, but sits quietly on her eggs 

 waiting for the nest to be stranded. Several instances are known where the nest and bird 

 have been swept into a rapid current, and carried to a considerable distance. The eggs 

 are generally about eight or ten in number, and their colour is olive-white- sprinkled 

 profusely with brown. The shell is rather thick in proportion to the size of the egg, so 

 that Coots' eggs can be carried away in a handkerchief without much danger of being 

 broken. 



The head and neck of the Coot are greyish black, the upper parts are deep blue-black, 

 and the under parts are blackish grey with a tinge of blue. The bill is rather pale orange- 

 red, and the horny plate on the forehead is rosy red in the breeding season, fading into 

 white at other times of the year, from which circumstance the Coot derives its sobriquet 

 of " bald." The legs are yellow-green, the naked part of the thigh orange-red, and the eye 

 bright red. The length of the Coot is about seventeen or eighteen inches. 



