14 COOT. 



of the mouth several fringed appendages ; the forehead bare as far 

 as the crown, and covered with a white skin ;* the head, neck, and 

 back, are black ; the last inclining to ash-colour; breast, belly, and 

 vent ash; outer edge of the wing white; just above the knee a 

 circle, or garter of yellow ; the colour of the legs, and bare parts 

 yellowish green. Male and female nearly alike. 



The Coot is pretty common throughout England, at all seasons ; 

 sometimes met with, many together, in winter, but in breeding time 

 chiefly seen in pairs, about the borders of ponds, well covered with 

 weeds, rushes, &c. and both swims and dives well. The nest is large, 

 composed of weeds, well matted together, lined with grass, and the 

 eggs six or seven in number ;f these are two inches and a quarter 

 long, of a pale brownish white, sprinkled all over with chocolate 

 spots, some very minute, most at the larger end. The young take 

 to the water very soon after hatching, but numbers fall a prey to 

 the Buzzards, which frequent the marshes. The food small fish, and 

 water insects, and sometimes the roots of the bulrush, with which it 

 has been observed to feed its young; it will also eat grain : is fre- 

 quently brought to market in the winter season. 



The Coot is in great abundance in the Isle of Sheppey, and the 

 inhabitants do not suffer the eggs to be destroyed, as the birds are an 

 esteemed article of food ; they are shot, or otherwise taken, from 

 August, throughout the winter ; are eaten by most people, and 

 thought very good ; are first skinned, and then dressed in various 

 ways, like Pigeons. In the same place may be seen 400 or 500 in a 

 flock; they are often salted, and supposed best in season in August 

 and September: are also observed in vast numbers on large pieces of 

 water, in various other parts of England. We find them recorded by 

 authors as inhabiting Greenland, Sweden, Norway, Russia, Siberia, 



* In the Leverian Museum was one, having in the middle of the bald front a small pro- 

 minence, or kind of comb, of a dark red colour: this we believe was sent from Gibraltar, 

 in which neighbourhood they abound all the winter. 



f Others say fifteen or sixteen, and even as many as eighteen and twenty. 



