THE COMMON COOT. 335 



the ebb. The redshanks were, as usual, calling in a lively manner, 

 and displaying in flight the beautiful white marking of their 

 wings. The ash-coloured sandpipers {Tringa canutus) were 

 pretty and noiseless. The dunlins {Tringa variabilis) were 

 in thousands, and, when on flight, most attractive, the silvery 

 white of their upturned wings even dazzling in the sun-light. A 

 flock of coots brought here by the severity of the weather, in 

 their pitchy and unrelieved blackness formed a fine contrast to 

 the snowy gulls near which they floated. Among the gulls alone 

 what variety in the several species and in birds of various age ! 

 Even in form, how different is the long narrow wing of the two 

 black-backed kinds {Larus marinus and L. fuscus) — and much of 

 the same breadth throughout, with its pure white binding, making 

 it look still more narrow — from the short and pointed, or trian- 

 gular-shaped wing of the black-headed species (L. ridilundus) . Four 

 adult individuals of Larus marinus were on wing together, and 

 several others, adult and immature, in view — one of the latter in 

 his dull garb venturing to fly with his senior in full costume, was 

 indignantly driven back by him. Herring gulls {L. argentatus) 

 added much to the life of the scene by dashing down from a 

 height of about twenty yards on their prey near the surface of the 

 water, while so clear was the atmosphere that the black extremities 

 of their quill feathers were quite conspicuous. Wild ducks occa- 

 sionally rose on wing, and large flocks of wigeon were on the 

 water in the distance." 



Mr. R. Ball writes, "A great many bald coots frequent the 

 pond at the gardens of the Royal Zoological Society, Phoenix 

 Park, Dublin, where several pair annually breed. Mr. Scott 

 (the curator) states that the hen coot makes a second nest long 

 before her first brood are able to take care of themselves, and that 

 they are then taken charge of by the cock, who provides for them 

 while the hen incubates a second clutch. I saw a coot drop 

 an egg here while flying ; it fell on some herbage and was 

 unbroken. 



" A purple coot once kept at the Zoological Gardens exhibited 

 a very remarkable power, little to be expected from such a bird. 



