396 ALECTOPJDES. 



The Coot cau swim and dive with great ease ; liut when starting to fly seems to 

 have great difficulty in rising, at first flapping the water and almost walking upon it 

 for some distance. When once fairly vip it can move with considerable swiftness, 

 resembling in this a Grebe much more than a Rail. In the spring it becomes quite 

 noisy, the flocks making a kind of chattering chorus, but becoming silent again after 

 they have sej)arated in ]3airs for the breeding-season. A few breed as far south as 

 Santa Barbara, where Dr. Cooper saw young on the 10th of ilay, while at Puget >Sound 

 they appear early in June. Dr. Cooper did not meet with the nest of this species, 

 but he was informed by Dr. Lieb that it is composed of dry rushes, without lining, 

 loosely constructed, and several inches thick at the bottom. It is five inches deep 

 and nearly two feet wide, and sometimes floats among the rushes. The eggs are said 

 to be from ten to fifteen in number, greenish yellow in ground-color, sprinkled with 

 small brown specks, and measure 2.00 by 1.25 inches. 



This bird resembles tlie Eail in having a compressed body, and can make its way 

 through the dense reeds where Ducks cannot pass, and where the water is too deep 

 for Eails. In such situations it spends most of its time, feeding on grass-seeds, 

 leaves of ac^uatic plants, small shells, and insects, collecting much of its food under 

 the water. On the land it can sometimes be caught by hand before it is able to rise. 



Examples were obtained by Mr. Skinner in Central America, and others were 

 observed in abundance on the Lake of Dueiias by Mr. Salvin, which, from si)eci- 

 mens afterward obtained, were ascertained with certainty to be of this species. It 

 is given by Leotaud as rare in Trinidad. 



Mr. March describes the eggs of this species, found by him in Jamaica, as being 

 eight or more in number, oval, pointed at one end, grayish stone-color, splashed all 

 over with small bistre-brown spots and dots. The ground-color is at first very pale, 

 but becomes darker by exposi;re. 



Mr. Gosse states that it may be seen at all hours of the day in the immense morass 

 of Savanna la Mar, there being hundreds congregated within an acre. There they are 

 wary to an excess, the distant sight of a man or the snapping of a dry twig alarming 

 the whole flock, though the noise of cattle walking on the shore has no such effect. 



A few specimens of this bird are recorded by Major Wedderlmrn and Mr. Hurdis 

 as having been obtained at Bermuda, usually in November and December, and in one 

 instance on the 28th of May. 



Mr. Say observed it in the lower part of Missouri Territory ; and in Long's 

 Expedition it was seen in Lake Winnipique on the Ttli of June. Mr. Swainson 

 also obtained specimens on the I'lateau of Mexico. Mr. Nuttall mentions that about 

 the 15th of April, 1833, a pair took up their residence in Fresh Pond, Mass., and 

 in the following June were occasionally seen, accompanied by their young. It is 

 probable that similar occurrences are more common tlian is generally supposed. Bar- 

 tram informed Wilson that this bird is resident and abundant in Florida. Audubon, 

 however, controverts this statement, believing that the Coot is found in either Louis- 

 iana or Florida from November to the middle of April only, that none remain there 

 after that period, and that none breed there. So sweeping a conclusion from merely 

 negative evidence is somewhat rash, in view of the fact that the Coot is known to 

 breed in large numbers in the Island of Cuba on the one hand, and in Texas, and 

 Tamaulipas, Mexico, on the other. In one instance, at least, it has been found breed- 

 ing at Monticello, West Florida, from which place its egg was sent me by Mr. Samuel 

 Pasco, a citizen of that place. 



Mr. Audubon mentions having once encountered a large flock of these birds, several 

 hundreds in number, on tlie Mississippi on the 22d of March. Tliey were feeding on 



