66 
glossy black colour throughout, with red legs and beak, the latter being 
curved somewhat like the curlew’s. The nest is placed far back in 
caves and crevices in the face of marine cliffs and, as a rule, in small 
colonies. If the first nest is robbed the pair will build a second nest ; 
and should this again be robbed they will even in some cases (like 
gulls) lay a third nest ; but there is usually an egg less in each 
successive clutch. The habits of the chough are very similar to those 
of the jackdaw or rook, as it feeds along the shore or in the fields. 
When the young are able to fly they are taken by the parent 
birds to some convenient ploughed field and are taught to dig 
for grub and worms in exactly the same way as their com- 
moner brothers, the rooks. The call of the chough is 
distinguishable from that of the jackdaw, which it most resembles, 
by its being less harsh. It is very shrill and musical, consisting 
of two separate notes and appearing to say “cher-air” in two 
syllables similar to the jackdaw’s call of “jee-ack.’’ The nest is 
built with a considerable quantity of sticks and heather -roots, well 
lined with sheep’s wool and hair. In the deep cup-shaped cavity 
are laid five very pale blue or cream eggs, spotted and blotched all 
over with indistinct markings of olive-brown and violet but more 
profusely at the larger end. 
Coot (Page 47). — The coot, or bald-coot, as it is commonly called, 
like the moor-hen, is one of our commonest water fowl, although 
on account of its being shy its presence is often unobserved. It 
is to be found on almost every secluded large sheet of fresh water, 
and is at once distinguished from all other water fowl by its black 
body and bald white forehead. Gamekeepers in some districts are 
completely wiping this bird out of existence on account of its 
cannibalistic tastes. It will destroy a whole nest of duck’s eggs, 
or even young birds, the moment the old duck’s back is turned. 
The foot of the coot appears to be something between the web 
of the duck and the clean toes of the water-hen. Each toe or claw 
has a small scalloped web or fin on each side of it (called lobes), but 
not connected to the adjoining toe like the duck’s, this oddity 
being only common to the grebes and phalaropes in addition to the 
coots. The nest of the coot is very similar to that of the water-hen, 
being built of rushes and sedges, and placed in a clump of herbage 
close to, or at the water’s side, or where the weeds and rushes grow 
well out into the water. The nest will be found to be a floating 
platform anchored to the surrounding weeds, but is never out of reach 
of the water as the water-hen’s sometimes is. Several nests are at 
times to be found on the same sheet of water. This bird attacks 
all other water fowl that cross his path, and will seldom tolerate 
even moor -hens on the same water as itself. If a visit is paid to a 
coot’s nest immediately before an expected flood or rise of water 
caused by heavy rain, it will be seen that the birds have piled 
up the nest with newly-plucked reeds and rushes to a great height. 
The nest sometimes stands two feet above the water, to ensure that the 
eggs will be kept dry when the water rises. Seven is an average 
clutch of eggs, but sometimes twice this number are found in one 
nest. They are of a pale dirty-stone-colour ground, speckled 
all over with btown. In winter these birds are to be found feeding 
with the wild ducks in great numbers, and are common on the 
seashore or about estuaries. 
