Rails, Gallinules, Coots 



bird so expert in the water and correspondingly awkward when 

 it runs over the land, where, however, it spends very little time. 

 It is the horny frontal plate, taken with the general resemblance 

 in structure to the gallinules, that places the coot in their class. 



A lake or quiet river surrounded by large marshy tracts 

 where sluggish streams meander, bringing down into deeper 

 water wild grain and seeds, the larvae of insects, fish spawn, 

 snails, worms, and vegetable matter, makes the ideal home of 

 this duck-like bird. " I come from the haunts of coot and hern," 

 the song of Tennyson's brook, calls up a picture of the home 

 that needs no enlarging. The coot dives for food to great depths, 

 sometimes sinking grebe fashion, and disappearing to parts 

 unknown by a long swim under water with the help of both 

 wings and feet. Swimming on the surface, the bird has a funny 

 habit of bobbing its head in unison with the strokes given in the 

 stern by its twin screws. 



A large amount of gravel seems necessary to help digest the 

 quantity of grain swallowed, and for this a flock of coots must 

 sometimes leave the muddy region of the lake. Rising from the 

 surface, they flutter just above it, pattering along for a distance, 

 their distended feet striking the water constantly, until sufficient 

 momentum is gained to spring into the air and trust to wing 

 power alone. This pattering noise and splashing, often heard 

 when the coots cannot be seen for the tall sedges that screen 

 them, is characteristic of several of the ducks also, and suggests 

 the notion that the trick may have been learned from them; for in 

 southern waters, at least, coots and ducks often resort to the 

 same lakes ; — that is, when the latter refuse to be driven off. . At 

 no time of the year silent birds, often incessant chatterers, 

 it is during the nesting season that the coots break out into 

 shrill, high-pitched, noisy cacklings, which the slightest dis- 

 turbance calls forth. Jealous, unwilling to permit alien swim- 

 mers in their neighborhood, sociable, but without any great love 

 of kin or kind to mellow their dispositions or their voices, they 

 make their neighborhood lively. But coots are shy of men, albeit 

 the young and old alike have flesh no one not starving could 

 eat; and they usually live in some inaccessible pond or swamp, 

 especially at the nesting season. As night approaches, they 

 lose much of the timidity which keeps them concealed and 

 silent the greater part of the day. 



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