334 



8 



Coot-catchers will sometimes take as many as 150 in a night, and that in Damietta a fat Coot 

 sells for a shilling and a thin one for a franc. 



The nest of the Coot is a large heavy structure, composed of decayed reeds, flags, and other 

 aquatic herbage, and is placed amongst reeds or willows, or else in shallow water, when it is 

 built up to a considerable height ; sometimes, but not often, it is placed on the land, generally 

 amongst grass or herbage ; and it is, as a rule, well concealed, though occasionally tolerably easy 

 to find. Referring to the nidification of this bird, Mr. Stevenson writes (I. c.) as follows : — " The 

 nests, which vary somewhat according to their situation, are all more or less compactly made, 

 large in size, and composed of coarse materials so firmly interwoven that Mr. Hewitson states 

 he has found them capable of supporting his weight. The outside of this ingeniously formed 

 basket usually consists of dried flags, reeds, and other withered plants ; but I have occasionally 

 known young reeds and rushes used in part, when the contrast of the fresh green has had a 

 very pretty effect. The interior is lined with rather finer substances, chiefly with portions of the 

 dead leaves of the reed. Though not unfrequently placed in dry situations, on the sedgy bank 

 of an island, or the rushy margin of a pond or lake, I have more commonly found them, on the 

 broads, built over the water amongst the reed-stems, in shallow spots resting on the weeds at 

 the bottom, in others well raised over the surface, but so fastened to the reeds themselves as to 

 rise with the tide, though with but little danger of their getting adrift. When thus placed 

 amongst the outlying reeds or rushes growing half out of the water, the nest is rather con- 

 spicuous ; and I have never found the eggs in any way covered ; indeed, under these circum- 

 stances there would not be sufficient materials at hand to do so effectively." 



The eggs, usually seven or eight, and sometimes as many as twelve in number, are deposited 

 about the middle of May, or sometimes not until the end of that month, are yellowish grey or 

 stone-ochreous in colour, and are dotted and marked all over with brownish black, those in my 

 collection averaging about 2^j by l^-§ inch in size. 



The specimen figured, on the same Plate with Fulica cristata, is an adult bird in the early 

 spring. 



In the preparation of the above article I have examined the following specimens : — 



E Mus. H. E. Dresser, 

 a, b, ad., c, pull, Leadenhall Market (H. E. D.). d,juv. Ural, 1868 (Sabanaeff) . 



E Mus. Brit. Reg. 



a, J. Avington, Hants, November 25th, 1872 (E. Shelley). b,juv. Holland, c, d. Tunis. e,f. Yarkand. 

 g. Behar, India, h. Nepal, i. Thibet [Lord Gifford) . k, I, m. Australia. 



