ON THE HABITS OF THE COMMON COOT (Fulica atra, Linn.)* 
By Neville Wood, Esq.* 
The Common Coot belongs, according to the quinary system, as developed 
by Vigors, to the fourth order of birds, Grallatores , and to the fourth family, 
Hallidce; an aberrant group, which has not as yet been divided into the five 
sub-families which it must contain, supposing the arrangement now followed by 
most of our eminent ornithologists to be a natural one. As zoological classifica¬ 
tion is, however, at present, confessedly in its infancy, it would be a waste of space 
and time to fatigue the readers of The Naturalist with further observations on 
this subject. The specific names, common and atra , are neither of them unobjec¬ 
tionable, but I am compelled to adopt them until better are proposed. 
The habits of the Coot do not appear to have been very minutely studied by 
British naturalists, although so common a species in almost every part of the 
kingdom ; indeed, its abundance would almost seem to be the cause of this 
neglect. Thus, few birds are more cursorily noticed in most ornithological works 
than the common House Sparrow, and yet, when we more closely examine its 
habits, we find them by no means destitute of interest. 
The Coot is not particularly nice in the choice of its habitats, and is almost 
certain to be found in moist situations ; it abounds, however, much more in some 
localities than in others, and in general prefers large, unsheltered sheets of water, 
of considerable depth, and where the weeds, rushes, &c., are not over luxuriant, 
to the smaller pools, surrounded by woods, and choked up with herbage, which is 
the typically favourite haunt of the Gallinule. The lake which pasess through 
Foston, Derbyshire, is of the latter description, and while its surface literally 
swarms with Gallinules in the evening, scarce a Coot is to be seen; whilst in the 
beautiful sheet of water behind Sudbury Hall, only two miles from Foston, the 
Coot is extremely plentiful, and the Gallinule comparatively scarce. This lake, 
though by no means destitute of aquatic herbage, is perfectly open, and only a 
very small portion is bordered by trees. It is worthy of remark that the Coot is 
seldom or never seen in the sheltered situations; while, on the contrary, the Gal¬ 
linule frequents the secluded spots, only venturing far from the covert towards 
the approach of night. Another remarkable difference in the habits of the Coot 
and the Gallinule is, that the former retires to rest at sunset, while the dusk of 
evening is one of the favourite times for the sports of the latter ; and I have even 
seen several on the water, both summer and winter, many hours after it has 
become dark. In summer its shrill voice is sometimes heard at intervals through¬ 
out the night, as I have frequently observed when listening to the charming 
melody of the Brake Nightingale. 
* Author of the Ornithologist's Text Book , British Song Birds , &c. 
