THE OSPREY. 61 



Nearly all of the plants seemed intact and perfect so far as these parts were 

 concerned. But one interesting and curious part of the plant I was never able 

 to find on any of the plants washed up on the shore. This is the modified 

 stolon or so-called winter hud, which many, perhaps all, of the Vallimeria 

 plants form in the late summer. This is a short stem about the size of a lead 

 pencil, one-half to two inches long, somewhat enlarged at the distal end, white 

 in color, very crisp and tender, and with quite a pleasant taste. 



We soon found that it was upon these winter buds that the coots were 

 feeding, apparently exelusivel}', and I have no doutit that during the early fall 

 they constitute the principal food of the coots that frtMjuent this lake. 



Later in the fall, after the supply of winter buds became practically ex- 

 hausted, the coots, bluebills, redheads and canvas-backs began eating the bases 

 of the wild celery leaves, and apparently, as choice food became more and 

 more scarce, they fed upon parts of this plant and upon other plants which 

 they at first rejected. 



The depth of' water in which they obtained the wild celery varied from 

 four to twenty-two feet. Early in the season they were disposed to feed in 

 the more shallow water, but later they went to greater depths. So far as we 

 were able to observe, every patch of wild celery in the lake became a feeding 

 ground. 



The coot dives with greater abruptness than any duck I have observed. 

 The body turns very quickly and is usually in nearly a vertical position before 

 entirely submerged. There is of course great irregularity in the frequency of 

 their diving. The character of the weather, whether they are disturbed or 

 not, the success of their dives, and the extent of their hunger, are factors 

 determining the frequency. But ordinarily one dive follows another very 

 quickly, so that, when watching a flock of a dozen or more, one or more indi- 

 viduals can be seen going under and one or more emerging at any moment. 



Depth: The maximum depth to which coots can descend I do not know, 

 but I do know they reach bottom in at least twenty-five feet. In front of our 

 cottage we had a buoy marking a twenty-five foot hole, and I have often seen 

 coots close to this buoy, diving and bringing up food from the bottom. 

 Usually, however, their choice feeding grounds are in depths between four 

 and eighteen feet. 



Time remaining under water: The length of time the coots would i-emain 

 under water varied a great deal, it probably being determined chiefly by the 

 depth to which they had to go and the readiness with which acceptable food 

 could be found. The longest time any individual was observed to remain 

 under water was sixteen seconds, and the usual time in water four to ten feet 

 deep was about nine seconds. 



Lake freezing over: About the middle of December the lake began to 



