1920.] Cape San Antonio, Buenos Ay res. 31 



The breeding or uesting-liabits of the species are some- 

 what peculiar. Hudson's dictum simply prcTnounees for 

 "a nest made on swampy ground near the water, of dry 

 rushes, and is, for a duck, a deep well-made structure ; the 

 eggs are oval in form, cream-coloured, and twelve in 

 number,'' Claude Grant (in a drought season) ''only took 

 two sets of eggs, and both of these were in the nests of 

 Ful'ica, which contained the eggs of that bird also. The 

 natives say that this is the usual custom of the bird, and 

 assert that the Coot brings oK the young." 



My own experience is similar to that of the last-quoted 

 observer — showing the parasitical habit of the species. I 

 have taken from one to sevei'al eggs in such nests as those of 

 the Southern Courlau {Arainifs scolo/ntceiis Gn\.), both Swans 

 [Ci/f/nus niyr'icollis Gni., and Coscoroha Candida A^ieill,), the 

 Spot-winged Gull [Larus macu/i/n'nnis Liclit.), and even, 

 strange to relate, the jNTaguari Stork ( Eaxennra ihagu<iriG\\\). 

 It is in the nests of all three FvUcfC however ( /•'. armillata 

 Vieill., F. lencojiijya Hartl., and F. lencoptira Vieill.) that it 

 is generally and abundantly found, though I doubt very 

 much if it is a welcome visitor there, or if the Coots actually 

 bring off the young ; for I have often found the mixed 

 assortment covered over with water-weeds, and a fresh 

 lot of Coot eggs laid. On one snch occasion I removed 

 sixty-four Coot and Duck eggs (some fresh and others more 

 or less incnbated) from one nest in successive layers; pos- 

 sibly there were more, but, leaning from my horse, with my 

 arm plunged into the water up to the shoulder, whilst my full 

 pockets and shirt-bosom threatened my equilibrium, I could 

 not be quite satisfied that I had reached the foundation of 

 the original structure — donbtless resting by this time on' 

 the mud at the bottom of the water. 



Per contra {i.e. as a nesting-bird on its own account) my 

 diary contains the following instances: — On the 3rd of 

 November, 1913, I observed on the bank of a Canada a pair 

 accompanied by a large brood of young in down. In 

 December of the same year, a trustworthy informant saw on 

 one of the large drainage canals in tiiis vicinity a female 



