77 
frequent opportunities are offered to the depredations of these animals; but as 
these favourable occasions seem to pass unheeded we may fairly conclude that the 
thievish propensities of which this animal is accused properly belong to another 
species, and one, possibly, of rarer occurrence. That the eggs and young of 
water birds are occasionally devoured by some four-footed animals is undeniable ; 
and I have, probably, erroneously described these and other depredations as apper¬ 
taining to the Water Rat, in the British Song Birds. I believe Mr. Blyth is of 
opinion that the Water Rat never feeds on any animal matter ; and that gentle¬ 
man has communicated to me some experiments which certainly go very far to 
prove his opinion. I hope the doubt and obscurity in which this point is involved 
will be satisfactorily cleared up in Mr. Bell’s beautiful work on British Quadru¬ 
peds, now in the course of publication. 
The food of the Coot consists of small fish, and various insects, • slugs, &c., 
which it obtains either on the surface of the water, amongst the weeds at the sides 
of lakes and ponds, or by diving. I have occasionally seen it struggling for five 
minutes or more to devour an unusually large fish, but it never desists until its 
object is accomplished. I never tasted the flesh of this bird, but it is probably 
fishy and unpalatable; at all events its smell is by no means inviting. 
The crown of the head and the bill are of an opaque white, and cause the bird 
to be conspicuous at a very considerable distance. The feathers of the head and 
neck are of a glossy black ; those of the body dusky brown : in swimming the 
tail is usually higher than the head. In the neighbourhood of Campsall, seven 
miles to the north of Doncaster, both the Coot and Gallinule are comparatively 
rare ; a circumstance for which I have not yet been able to account. 
THE GREY WAGTAIL (Motacilla cinerea) A SONG BIRD. 
No author with whom I am acquainted makes any mention of the song of this 
bird, and in the British Song Birds it is stated that, “ with regard to vocal 
powers, the Grey Wagtail has no claims on our attention.” In this, however, I 
have since discovered that I was mistaken, having heard the song, for the first 
time, about a week ago, in a corn field. The Pied Wagtail is by no means a con¬ 
stant songster; the present species is, undoubtedly, even less so ; and perhaps the 
Oatears (Budytes) have no song at all. The notes of this bird are pleasing, but 
cursory, and much resemble those of the Pied Wagtail. 
July 24, 1836. 
N. W. 
