THE JACANA. 
311 
together, and then taken them np before they had time to 
struggle. 
Foxes are said to he fond of Coots, and when the waters 
they frequent are frozen up, it is not improbable -that many 
fall victims. This may probably account for their returning 
in diminished numbers after long frosts. On a mere, where, 
from constant observation, we knew the precise number, they 
would remain as long as a few square yards of water were 
unfrozen, sitting on the ice, or swimming with a sort of 
despairing restlessness, round their rapidly contracting space, 
as if unwilling, while hope of thaw was left, to seek shelter 
elsewhere. Even when this, their last opening, is sealed up, 
they will, for a day or two, linger amongst the rushes on the 
borders ; but at length they disappear altogether, and may in 
vain be sought for in the ditches and open streams adjacent. 
As they do not return till many days after the frost has 
broken up, and Ducks and other birds common to the mere 
have reappeared, it is probable they migrate to some distance, 
most likely to the sea- coast, where frost has little power, and 
where we know, during very severe weather, they have been 
observed to congregate in flocks far beyond the average 
numbers frequenting the neighbouring meres or marshes. 
The third genus in this table comprises the Jacanas, a tribe 
of Waders, or rather we should say, walkers on the water; 
for, by means of their very long toes, they are enabled to 
walk with ease over the large water-plants, whose leaves 
form a floor, as it were, over the surface. They are inha- 
bitants of the marshes of warm climates, and so shy, that 
those who hunt for them can only approach by covering them- 
selves with leaves. 
The Toot of the African Jacana 
