248 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
Coot by the neck and held him so long under water that nothing, I think, 
but a Coot could have survived it. When at length he was liberated, he 
hastily dived, and was seen no more. It is a fact that, after this, no Coot 
would interfere with this drake. Whether the others saw the result, or 
had the fight related to them in bird-language, I am unable to say. This 
champion drake, however, is now no more, and several pairs of Coots may 
be seen all day long, diving and bringing up weeds from the bottom, in 
search of food. My ducks dare not pass them: woe to their young broods, 
should they have any. I should be glad to know if other observers have 
remarked this savage propensity of the Coot. All creatures will endeavour 
to protect their young, but Coots are most aggressive; even among them- 
selves they do not agree. Each pair has a well-defined region of reeds and 
water, the invasion of which at once leads to a disturbance. —JoHN 
TITTERTON (Ely). 
Redshank breeding in Kent.—During a ramble in Kent on April 
23rd, I came upon a breeding-place of the Redshank. There were at least 
four or five pairs of birds there, which from their actions were evidently 
nesting, but, after a very careful search, I could not discover any nests. 
I again visited the place on May 3rd, when I was fortunate enough to find 
all the nests, containing in every case a full clutch of eggs (four). The 
nests were built in a marshy place, and were a considerable distance from 
each other; they were made of a little dry grass, and in every case situated 
in the centre of a tuft of grass. I have visited the place since, and noticed 
that the birds always caught sight of me before I was within two hundred 
yards of them; they flew up and past me, keeping upa loud whistle all the 
time, and then flew off to a distant part, where I could hear them whistling, 
until I departed. The name of the place I have not given for obvious 
reasons.—R. Fortune (Harrogate). 
Snipe and Redshank laying in the same Nest.— On the 15th 
April I found near my house a nest containing four eggs of the Common 
Snipe and four of the Redshank. As I never heard of a similar case, 
I should feel obliged if you would notice it in ‘ The Zoologist.’—Jamrs 
Sarernt (Nith Cottage, New Cumnock, Ayrshire). 
(‘Two species of similar habits and living in the same haunts occasionally 
lay in the same nest. We have known a Pheasant and Partridge to behave 
thus, and a Grey Partridge and a Redleg to do the same.— Ep. ] 
Effects of Sudden Cold upon Summer Birds.—One hears on all sides 
of the great destruction wrought among our lately-arrived migrants by the 
severe weather of the second week in May. The following particulars may 
be of interest, and may tend to show the terrible mortality that has occurred 
in this district. As many as 150 Swallows and Martins were picked up at 
a country house near Preston ; nearly 100, almost all Swallows, were found 
