30 BIRDS OF THE DISTRICT OF GEELONG 
from the ground, hollowed at the top, and evidently 
added to from time to time, some pieces being quite 
green as if newly picked. Many more even of the 
real nests seemed to be built than actually used. 
As with most Rail-like birds, there was a regular 
passage to the nest. The eggs are usually four in 
number, larger and more boldly marked than the 
Waterhen's. The green stalks of reed and bulrush 
form the principal diet of this species. 
COOT 
Fulica atra tasmanica 
The Connewarre Lakes and contiguous waters are 
the sole resort of the Coot in this district ; it is 
not a resident there, but an occasional visitor from its 
nesting-quarters in the swamps and billabongs which 
flank the course of all the rivers confluent to the 
Murray. On these movements southward it is gre- 
garious, appearing in immense numbers, suddenly 
and at irregular intervals, but more often in the 
early autumn than at other times of the year. Once 
when the absence of these birds for many seasons had 
become a subject of comment among the shooters, 
hundreds of thousands arrived in a single night, and 
the Lake next day was covered in all directions with 
dense flocks. 
Very fresh and vivid in my mind are recollections 
of a happy camp beneath the ti-tree at Fisherman's 
