396 FEATHERED GAME 
ate-tickling relish of a well tried Gloucester 
fishing boot. The only way I can manage to 
eat Coot is to use the breast meat alone, parboil 
as before, score deeply and broil like a beef- 
steak and season well. A bit of lemon juice 
squeezed on it will help some, but it is doubtful 
if one would care to regale one’s self with it 
more than twice a day for any length of time. 
If the reader must experiment let me recom- 
mend that he use a young bird in the early fall. 
This duck is very hard to kill. He can carry 
off a full charge of shot with no apparent diffi- 
culty in his working parts, and unless the pel- 
lets are placed in a vital spot there are few 
chances of capturing him. If wounded severely 
or wing-broken he dives at once and continues 
diving and coming up to fill his air tank, often 
just putting his nose above water to get his 
breath and again going under to stay until he 
has reached a safe distance. Despite his Dutch 
model and somewhat clumsy appearance he 
swims fast and well either upon or below the 
surface, but his worst enemy cannot truthfully 
accuse him of being a graceful bird ashore, for 
he is heavy and chunky and at best his walk is 
an awkward ‘‘waddle.’? How do I know? 
