86 THE GAME BIRDS AND WILD FOWL 



broken, but if the flight be at all protracted they are draWn up 

 and stretched' out behind. At night-time it frequently rises into 

 the air and flies round and round above its haunts, uttering its 

 loud note at intervals. This note is a clear, far-sounding ko. 

 At all seasons the Coot is a remarkably sociable bird, and in 

 autumn and winter frequently gathers into enormous flocks. 

 These congregations of Coots are by far the largest on salt water, 

 and then consist of many birds that have been driven from 

 inland waters by long-continued frosts. It is said that great 

 numbers of Coots also visit our islands from more northern and 

 eastern lands, and swell the ranks of the flocks gathered on our 

 low-lying coasts, taking their departure in March. Coots 

 afford considerable sport, and vast numbers are occasionally shot 

 during some grand battue. I have known cartloads of Coots 

 shot in such a manner on the renowned Slapton Ley, in South 

 Devonshire — one of the greatest haunts of this species in our 

 islands. The food of the Coot consists of meadow grass, buds, 

 shoots, leaves, and seeds of various aquatic plants, grain, insects, 

 snails, worms, and small fish. Much of this food is obtained whilst 

 the bird is diving. During severe weather it sometimes wanders 

 from the water to farmyards and shrubberies, and will then make 

 a meal of hawthorn berries, and the hips of the wild rose. The 

 flesh of this species is by no means unpalatable, if birds are 

 obtained for the table from fresh water and during the time food 

 is plentiful. 



Nidification. — The^Coot breeds much later than the Water- 

 hen, its eggs seldom being laid before the beginning of May. 

 The nest is a large bulky structure, sometimes placed among 

 reeds, rushes, and flags some distance from shore, where it floats, 

 moored to the vegetation; at others it is built amongst the 

 aquatic herbage growing on the banks of the pool or stream. 

 Most of the nest is little more than a heap of wet, rotten aquatic 

 vegetation, which often rises some eight or ten inches above the 

 level of the water. At the top of this a shallow cavity, lined 

 with drier and finer materials, is formed for the eggs. These are 

 from six to twelve in number — seven or eight being an average 

 clutch — huffish white in ground colour, sprinkled, speckled, and 

 dusted over most of the surface with blackish brown. They 



