198 
WADING BIRDS. 
The Coot of America, so very similar to that of Europe, 
according to the season is found in almost every part of the 
continent, from the grassy lakes that skirt the Saskatchewan 
plains, in the 55 th parallel, to the reedy lagoons of East Florida 
and the marshes of Jamaica. To the west, the species seems 
to inhabit the waters of the Columbia, in the remote Territory 
of Oregon. Mr. Say observed it also in the lower part of Mis- 
souri, and in Long’s Expedition it was seen in I.ake Winnipeg 
on the 7th of June. Mr. Swainson has also received speci- 
mens from the distant tableland of Mexico. We may there- 
fore conclude almost with certainty that the Coot of America, 
indifferent to climate, dwells and breeds in every part of the 
North American continent, over a range of probably more than 
fifty degrees of latitude ! Nocturnal in their habits, and dis- 
persing themselves far and vvide over every watery solitude, 
these birds seem in many places to have disappeared for the 
season, until they in large numbers, swelled by their prolific 
broods, and impelled at the approach of winter to migrate for 
food, now begin to show themselves in the lakes, pools, and 
estuaries in the vicinity of the sea, from which they gradually 
recede towards the South as the severity of the season compels 
them, being unable to subsist amidst the ice. In this way 
they proceed, accumulating in numbers as they advance, so 
that in the inundated and marshy tracts of Florida, particularly 
along the banks of the St. Juan, they are seen in winter, con- 
gregated in vast and noisy flocks. In the milder latitudes, 
their whole migrations will be limited to a traverse from the 
interior to the vicinity of the sea, while those which visit the 
wilderness of Upper Canada, where they are abundant in the 
summer, will probably migrate from twenty-five to thirty 
degrees every spring and autumn. 
The Coots arrive in Pennsylvania about the beginning of 
October. They appear in Fresh Pond, Cambridge, about the 
first week in September. A pair took up their residence in 
this small lake about the 15 th of April; and in June they are 
occasionally seen accompanied by their young. The nest, eggs, 
and manners during the period of reproduction are yet 
