Feeding Habits of Coots and Ducks. 
Concluded from page 212. 
There is, of course, no question about the 
coot’s ability to swim well. This they do quite 
as well and as gracefully as most ducks. They 
are also very noisy, keeping up their calls anc. 
conversations during all hours of the day and 
night. And, contrary to some observers, the 
coot is a very expert diver. Not only will it 
dive when wounded, to get away from its pur¬ 
suer. but it dives regularly and habitually while 
feeding, and with the greatest ease and grace. 
Watching them from the cottage piazza with 
a good pair of field glasses was an extremely 
fascinating pastime. T hey always fed most in¬ 
dustriously when the surface of the water "as 
smooth and when the air was balmy. They also 
fed actively on calm, moonlit nights. 
I soon discovered that they were feeding 
upon the wild celery, buf at first was not sine 
what part of the plant they ate. I had read in 
the botanies and the ornithologies that the 
great delicacy of the flesh of the canvasback 
duck is due to its feeding upon “the roots" or 
the “leaves” of the wild celery. If a brisk 
breeze should spring up after the coots had 
been feeding diligently for a few hours or a day 
or two, a great quantity of wild celery plants 
was washed up on the lee shore. On ex¬ 
amining these plants, T was not able to dis¬ 
cover that the roots or leaves of many of them 
had been removed. Nearly all of the plants 
seemed intact and perfect so far as these parts 
were concerned. But one interesting and curi¬ 
ous part of the plant I was never able to find 
on any of those washed up on the shoi e. 
This is the modified stolon or so-called winter 
bud. which many, perhaps all. of the I alhsneria 
plants form in the late summer. 1 his is a 
short stem about the size of a lead pencil, one- 
half to two inches long, somewhat enlarged at 
the distal end, white in color, very crisp and 
tender, and with quite a pleasant taste. 
We soon found that it was upon these winter 
buds that the coots were feeding, apparently ex¬ 
clusively, and I have no doubt that during the 
early fall they constitute the 'principal food of 
the coots that frequent this lake. 
Later in the fall, after the supply of winter 
buds became practically exhausted, the coots, 
blttebills, redheads and canvasbacks began 
eating the bases of the wild celery leaves, and 
apparently, as choice food became mote and 
more scarce, they fed upon parts of this plant, 
and upon other plants, which they at first re¬ 
jected. 
The depth of water in which they obtained 
the wild celery varied from four to twenty-two 
feet. Early in the season they were disposed 
to feed in the more shallow water, but later 
they went to greater depths. So far as we were 
able to observe, every patch of wild celery in 
the lake became a feeding ground. 
The coot dives with greater abruptness than 
any duck I have observed. The body tqrns very 
quickly and is usually in nearly a vertical posi¬ 
tion before it is entirely submerged. There is, 
of course, great irregularity in the frequency of 
their diving. The character of the weather, 
whether they are disturbed or not, the success 
of their dives, and the extent of their hunger, 
are factors determining the frequency. But 
ordinarily one dive follows another very quickly, 
so that, when watching a flock of a dozen or 
more, one or more individuals can be seen go¬ 
ing under and one or more emerging at any 
moment. 
Depth. —The maximum depth to which coots 
can descend I do not know, but I do know they 
reach bottom in at least twenty-five feet. In 
front of our cottage we had a buoy marking a 
twenty-five foot hole, and I have often seen 
coots close to this buoy, diving and bringing 
up food from the bottom. Usually, however, 
their choice feeding grounds are in depths be¬ 
tween four and eighteen feet. 
Time of Remaining Under Water .—The length 
of time the coots would remain under water 
varied a great deal, it probably being determined 
chiefly by the depth to which they had to go 
and the readiness with which acceptable food 
could be found. The longest time any indi¬ 
vidual was observed to remain under water was 
sixteen seconds, and the usual time in water 
four to ten feet deep was about nine seconds. 
Lake Freezing Over .—About the middle of De¬ 
cember the lake began to freeze over, and by 
the first of January only one or two open spaces 
or holes were left. On the second of January 
my assistant, Mr. H. Walton Clark, who re¬ 
mained at the lake all winter, and who is the 
best field naturalist I ever knew, went out on 
the ice to the largest of those open spaces, 
which he found pretty well filled with coots 
and ducks, and a good many sitting on the ice 
at the edge of the pool. Upon firing among 
them, instead of rising and flying away, they at¬ 
tempted to escape by running on the ice. This 
they could not do very well, so he ran in among 
them and caught with his hands three canvas- 
back ducks, one ruddy duck and one coot. 
There was no wind and the ice was very 
smooth, conditions which, Mr. Clark thinks, 
made it difficult for the birds to rise. 
I can easily believe this to be true for I have 
seen a duck, which was merely able to walk 
slowly while on the ice, rise and fly when it 
reached the shore, where its feet would not 
slip. When the ice is very smooth, the ducks 
slide along in a most ludicrous and helpless 
manner. It had become suddenly very cold 
the preceding night, and these birds, sitting on 
the ice for some hours, had doubtless become 
benumbed and inactive, and this is probably 
one reason why they were not able to rise 
promptly when first disturbed. 
Mr. Clark states that the coot was the best 
runner on the ice, and that the canvasbacks 
were the poorest. The little ruddy duck proved 
a great scrapper. When he found he could not 
get away, he turned and charged Mr. Clark 
with open mouth, and most savagely. 
Later the same day Mr. Clark visited another 
open pool, perhaps ten to twenty feet in di¬ 
ameter, which he found filled with coots and 
several species of ducks, among which were 
one wood duck, several mallards, one ruddy 
duck, several butterballs, one merganser, and 
three canvasbacks. On the ice near the pool 
were a great many ducks which arose and flew 
away upon his approach. Those in the pool 
were slower to leave, but as he came nearer, 
the butterballs rose first, then the coots got 
out upon the ice and scrambled away. I he can¬ 
vasbacks remained in the pool longest of any, 
and Mr. Clark is of the opinion that this species 
stands the poorest chance when the waters 
tighten up. 
The next day (Jan,. 3) Mr. Clark visited the 
larger pool again; and that he might get as 
close as possible to the coots and ducks with¬ 
out frightening them, he wrapped himself in 
a white sheet. Lying down upon the ice. he 
was able to crawl to within two feet of the 
water’s edge without scaring the birds away. 
There were in the pool three canvasbacks, 
three little bluebills, one ruddy duck, and four 
coots, and Mr. Clark lay there on the ice during 
most of the afternoon watching them. Mr. 
Clark says, “The birds, especially the coots, 
were very busy diving and feeding. 1 he ducks 
were not active. It was both amusing and in¬ 
structive to watch them. They were not usually 
more than eight to twelve feet away, and I 
could plainly see the eyes of every one of them, 
and the little bluebill came so close I could 
see the pupil of his eye. I could see them close 
and open their eyes, which every one did fre¬ 
quently. The little bluebill was a very active 
and persistent diver. He seemed to be feeding 
upon shells, as he never brought up anything 
bulky and he would do a lot of vigorous chew¬ 
ing, and I could hear a crunching noise like 
shells being broken up when he chewed. The 
coots came so near I could see the black spots 
on their bills and their red eyes. 
While lying at this pool, several other ducks, 
chiefly mallards and whistlers, came and either 
alighted in the pool or circled about and left. 
The whistlers dived very often, easily and rap¬ 
idly, while the canvasbacks dived but rarely 
and very clumsily at that. One or more of the 
coots were down nearly all the time. 1 hey 
go down with a vim. Generally, when one 
dived, the other three stayed up and watched 
for his coming up. They were able to see him 
some time before he reappeared and, hur¬ 
rying to the spot where they thought he would 
emerge, would be on hand ready to appropri¬ 
ate for themselves as much of the food brought 
up as they could get possession of. Not only 
would the coots thus rob each other, but the 
ducks also robbed them. Whenever a coot 
came up with an unusually great load, the little 
bluebills and even the canvasback drake would 
be on hand to help themselves. In this way 
the coots feed not only each other but various 
ducks as well; but it was observed that the 
ducks do very little robbing from each other.” 
Food .—Usually a considerable mass of vegeta- 
