332 rallid^e. 



THE COMMON COOT. 



Bald Coot * 



Fulica atra, Linn. 



Is permanently resident, and breeds in suitable localities 

 throughout the island, 



Which are chiefly lakes, either in wild and sequestered places 

 or in game-preserved demesnes, having abundance of herbage 

 about their borders. Lough Beg, near Toome (Antrim), Lough 

 Achery and the lakes in Hillsborough Park (Down), the lake in 

 Lord Lurgan's demesne (Armagh), may be named as a few of the 

 breeding-haunts in the north-east of the island; — in all quarters 

 of which the bird has come under my notice, and nowhere so 

 abundantly in summer as on the river Shannon, northward of 

 Lough Derg. 



On the 27th of June, 1832, I saw at a cabin on the borders of 

 Port Lough, near Dunfanaghy (Donegal), four young coots a 

 week old, which had been " brought out " under a common hen, 

 and were about the size of newly-hatched chickens. They were 

 black, except about the head and neck, which being covered with 

 yellowish-orange and coral-red hairs, imparted to them a sin- 

 gular and handsome appearance. They were so tame as to come 

 to any one when called and eat potatoes or dough out of the 



Williams of Dingle in a recent state before being skinned for preservation. The 

 specimen was given to Captain Clifford, Inspector of the Coast Guard there, pre- 

 served and stuffed by one of the men under his command, and subsequently presented 

 to Mr. Chute. 



Owing to the circumstances of this bird's occurrence, I give it only in a 

 note. Wilson (in his Amer. Ornith. vol. iii. p. 189, Sir Wm. Jardine's edit.) re- 

 marks, that " during its migration [in spring and autumn] this bird is frequently 

 driven to sea." He mentions one having flown on board a vessel in the Gulf-stream 

 in May and another which did so in August, when the vessel was proceeding from 

 Savannah to Philadelphia. 



Audubon likewise states that this bird " not unfrequently alights on ships at sea," 

 and, among other instances, mentions three individuals having been caught 300 miles 

 from land, one of them having come through the cabin window." — Orn. Biog. 

 vol. iv. p. 40. 



* This name is commonly applied to the bird in Ireland. The waterhen is 

 called coot in some parts of the south, where bald coot is the distinctive appellation 

 of the other species. 



