284 THE BIRDS OF DEVOX. 



state. It is quite usual to see it feeding iu farmyards together with the 

 poultry, where there is a brook, or an old pond, bordered by the tangle of 

 brambles, in which it loves to shelter close at hand, and we have found 

 flour-mills to be greatly affected by it on account of the heaps of husks 

 lying about, which it may be seen examining in company with fowls and 

 pigeons. We had always a number of ^Yater-hens about our grounds, 

 feeding quite tamely on the lawn, and one summer counted seven nests 

 around our ponds, which were bordered with clumps of rhododendron, 

 affording the birds a quiet refuge. As soon as the young birds arc able 

 to cater for themselves, the old birds drive them off and they disappear. 

 We have found our Moor-hens roosting on the lower branches of trees, and 

 have occasionally seen a nest placed in the fork of a tree some little height 

 above the water. We have heard anglers speak with impatience of the 

 Water-hen, and say that the birds ought to be destroyed upon trout- 

 streams, because of the manner they splash for some distance along the 

 surface of the water when they are flushed, thus disturbing and frighten- 

 ing the fish ; but we have never concurred in this sentiment, being at all 

 times glad to come across them in their haunts. 



A brood of Moor-hens is a pretty sight, the little black chicks closely 

 attended by the two old birds, who are anxious and watchful jiarents, 

 and gently pushing aside the branches screening some quiet pool we have 

 looked through, and ourselves unseen have frequently enjoyed it. In 

 very severe weather the Moor-hens suffer greatly, and numbers fall a 

 prey to foxes, whose tracks ipay then be seen thick upon the snow at the 

 edges of the brooks. 



Coot, Fal'ica atra^ Linn. 



[Bald Coot.J 



Resident, but now almost entirely confined to Slapton, Thurlestone, and 

 Milton Leys, on the south-west coast of the county, and some other 

 ornamental waters where it is preserved and breeds freely. 



The late Mr. F. W. L. Iloss informed us that he remembered seeing 

 the water in the estuary of the Exe between Lympstone and Powderham 

 " literally black with Coots."' The introduction of punt-guns soon drove 

 them away, and now only occasional stragglers visit the Exe iu severe 

 weather, when they have been frozen out of their usual haunts. Some 

 occurred on the Exe near Topsham in December 1855, and some early in 

 December 1890, near Exmouth. The Coot is rar-ely seen near Plymouth 

 (B., MS. Notes), and seldom visits the Tamar (T. J., ]5ray's ' Tamar and 

 Tavy,' 1836, i. p. 354). It was formerly found on the Teign and Dart, 

 but was not so common as the Moor-hen (T. & K.). 



The North Devon trout-streams are clear and rapid, without any broad 

 fringes of sedge and rush ; there are no large meres or leys, and tlie Coot, 

 in conse(iuence, is only known in that part of the county as a winter 

 visitor, large flocks being sometimes seen in hard weather resting upon 



