60 THE OSPREY. 



nearer shore than the coots; and small flocks of butter balls and whistlers and 

 solitary ruddy ducks were also disposed to stay quite near shore. Bluebills 

 (both large and small) would usually be a little further from shore than the 

 coots, while the redheads, mallards and canvas-backs would be still further 

 out. However, it often happened that nearly or quite all of these species 

 would be mixed together in a single flock, the coots and bluebills constituting 

 the shore side of the miscellaneous group. 



When the coots first arrived in numbers in the fall, they were not wild 

 and came nearer shore than they did later, after they had been hunted. One 

 of their favorite feeding grounds was in front of my cottage, where, if not dis- 

 turbed, they remained day and night; and as we were careful to disturb them 

 as little as possible, they were usually there in considerable numbers until that 

 part of the lake froze over, which occurred about the middle of December. 

 They never left except when disturbed by some one, or when that part of the 

 lake was made rough by winds, when they would fly to some protected corner 

 of the lake. 



The depth of the water in this locality varied from four to twenty -five 

 feet, and the bottom everywhere was well covered with various species of 

 Potamogeton, Myriophyllum, Tolypella, Vallisneria, and perhaps others. 

 The Chara and Nitella grew in the more shallow water, and Tolypdla in the 

 deepest, while the tape-grass or wild celery ( Vallisneria spiralis) grew at all 

 depths from four up to twenty- two feet. 



There is, of course, no question about the coot's ability to swim well. 

 This they do quite as well and as gracefully as most ducks. They are also 

 very noisy, keeping up their calls and conversations during all hours of the 

 day and night. And, contrary to some observers, it is a very expert diver. 

 Not only will it dive when wounded, to get away from its pursuer, but it 

 dives regularly and habitually while feeding, and with the greatest ease and 

 grace. 



Watching them from the cottage piazza with a good pair of field-glasses 

 was an extremely fascinating pastime. They always fed most industriously 

 when the surface of the water was smooth and when the air was balmy. They 

 also fed actively on calm, moonlit nights. 



I soon discovered that they were feeding upon the wild celery, but was at 

 first not sure what part of the plant they ate. I had read in the botanies and 

 the ornithologies that the great delicacy of the flesh of the canvas- back duck 

 is due to its feeding upon "the roots" or the "leaves" of the wild celery. If 

 a brisk breeze should spring up after the coots had been feeding diligently 

 for a few hours or a day or two, a great quantity of wild celery plants would 

 be washed up on the lee shore. Upon examining these plants, I was not able 

 to discover that the roots or leaves of many of them had been removed. 



