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is now confined to only a few favourite localities ; but in Northumberland and Durham it breeds, 

 Mr. Hancock says, in most large pools and loughs, as at Wallington and Gosforth, and it nested 

 quite commonly at Prestwick Car before that district was drained. 



In Scotland, Mr. Eobert Gray writes (B. of W. of Scotl. p. 338), " though less numerous 

 than the Moor-Hen, it appears to have an equally wide distribution, being found from north to 

 south over the whole of Scotland, and from east to west to the Long Island or Outer Hebrides. 

 It is common throughout the inner islands, breeding in suitable places, where the two species 

 are found in company. Islay, Skye, and Mull are frequented by considerable numbers. In a 

 few of these localities it is migratory, leaving its breeding-haunts about the commencement of 

 winter; numbers, however, remain all the year. A single pair only has been observed in 

 Benbecula, but it is more common in North and South Uist, as well as Harris and Lewis. One 

 of the Benbecula birds was killed some years ago ; but the survivor, after a short absence, 

 returned with another mate, probably from one of the neighbouring islands." It breeds in 

 Orkney, but seldom visits Shetland, and then only in winter. 



In Ireland, Thompson writes (B. of Irel. ii. p. 332), the Coot " is permanently resident, and 

 breeds in suitable localities throughout the island, which are chiefly lakes, either in wild and 

 sequestered places or in game-preserved demesnes, having abundance of herbage about then- 

 borders. Lough Beg, near Toome (Antrim), Lough Achery, and the lakes in Hillsborough 

 Park (Down), the lake in Lord Lurgan's demesne (Armagh) may be named as a few of the 

 breeding-haunts in the north-east of the island, in all quarters of which the bird has come 

 under my notice, and nowhere so abundantly in summer as on the river Shannon, northward of 

 Lough Derg." 



Though it has not been observed in Greenland (where, it is worthy of notice, the American 

 Coot has occurred), it has been recorded from Iceland. Faber states that a pair were killed at 

 Reykjavik late in 1819, and one was caught at sea off Gundavik in April 1821. Professor 

 Newton, who possesses one which was killed near Utskala, mentions that he is not aware that it 

 has been seen anywhere in Iceland, except in the south-west. In the Faeroes the Coot is tolerably 

 well known as a spring and autumn visitant ; and in Norway, Mr. Collett informs me, it is found 

 singly in almost all parts of the country, and breeds in certain localities, in the lower tracts 

 bordering on the Christiania fjord, for instance, where it is observed every year. On several 

 occasions individuals have been noticed in the middle of the winter ; an example (swimming in 

 the Trondhjems fjord) was killed early in January 1871. One or two individuals were observed 

 in Finmark, near Vardo (70° 20'), in the autumn of 1857. According to Professor Nilsson it 

 arrives in Sweden in April or late in March, and breeds commonly in Southern and Central 

 Sweden. It is very numerous near Gothenburg and Carlstad, and is found here and there near 

 Upsala. It breeds on the Glan lake, in Ostergothland, but becomes much rarer further north. 

 In Finland, according to Dr. Palmen, it is only of somewhat rare occurrence, but it breeds in the 

 south-western districts. It seldom ranges above 61 N. lat.; but Sadelin states that it has been 

 obtained near Wasa. 



In Central Russia it is generally distributed, and is common in the Tver Government. 

 Bogdanoff remarks that it is abundant along the Volga ; and Kessler says the same respecting 

 its presence in the Kieff Government. As a rule, it is most numerous in the south and south- 



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