the coast, where extensive mud-flats are laid hare at each
retiring tide, preferring, however, open waters, and does not,
except in the breeding-season, so-much seek the sheltered
reed-grown situations frequented' by. _ the' Moor-hen ; *the
extreme watchfulness of the Coot enabling itHo’ avoid
danger.
Owing to successive drainage of its breeding haunts ia
this country, - Coots are gradually diminishing in number,
and of ■ late .years the species has become, scarcer and
more localized in many of our English-' counties. --On
the other hand, upon the Nene, in Northamptonshire, Lord
Lilford says th a t‘it has become much more abundant- .fame
Norfolk broads, Southampton Water, Poole, and "other
parts of Dorsetshire, and Slapton-Ley,-in Devohshirefifee
places where this species is still -plentiful; although the
days have passed when a fen-man, in answer fllfMr. Bub-
bock’s question as to the number of Coots visible on J9Sck-
ling Broad, could „estimate them about ere "and a
half” ; or a shoal reaching "two in length by half a
mile acrossf be seen -jipon the Manningtree riwfe||n Essex.*
Large numbers are still, however, killed annually at the
battues, especially ©nfsome of the, “ brq§<Js,” and at Slapton
Ley. As a rule the Cl^'is^Vesiflehi^But in the colder districts,
when'the inland lakes’ - an<i. streams\|rif;erqge€'d)||#ie
frost, it migrates partially, and with* reludance *^gfcii‘erally
in the^ evening), to the salt This flakes plape^pipre
particularly fir -the'■'northern and-north-.eastern districts, -bit
nr the milder west it remains throughoufrthb^wimfd^e'Ven in
tbe Hebrides ^apj: the '.Orkne^ ;.- occasionally visit^g^heV
land at that season. In Irelandjfeis perman’ently:;iesident,
and generally distributed where the localities'- argisuitable. -
A very rare* stfdggle'r’as Jar aff the south-West'OL Iceland,
the Coot isv at tolerably reguMT^visi'tOrtoti.e Faeroes., On
the coast of’ Norway, which js warmed by the Ou'lf 'Stream,
it has h’Oen'known to occur as far as 70°f®§ lat. /-add-it
breeds: in*the southern ‘districts ' of tH'at';-countryand of
Sweden. 'South and'east of 'ffie'^Baltie' rods generally-dis-
* ‘Sbevenson’s B. of Norfolk/
tributed - throughout the Continent down to the shores of
the Mediterranean, where, owing tefcthe arrival of migrants
from the north, ihbcelirs-in vast numbers in winter. In the
south of, France,, especially in Provence;, it-is known by the
name of Macrmse,- elsewhere applied-to the Scoter Duck,
and its flesh-being allowed-to-be eaten in-convents :on j$ws
mmgres, large battue? were formerly organized^ in orders to
Obtain -supplies. Parties for the- purpose k>f sport "still take
place annually,-and more'than a thousand Coots-sometimes
fall in a single day. Similar bags have been made at the gteat
lake ofi Albufera near Valencia, in Spain, in which-country
the'Codt also breeds- in some- numbers- in suMble* localities,
especially im Andalucia-,-Fut:4n Italyr t te isknds' of' tiie
Mediterranean and Greece,.comparatively *few remain Jo nest.,
^occurs in'-Turkey, and along-the'Black Sea as far as, the
foot i # the Caucasus'« and i® appears tcFbe resident in Asia
Minor and'Pttestine.' Eastward it-ranges across Persia and
Turkestan*® Kashmir, y#erb^it breeds in small numbers,
and at 1 1 1 1 Northern- India]? e^peSally-the'- lakes .of Smd,
where it hf; found-, according'® ^Mr. Hume fin- hundreds ƒ
thousands during- tfe'- c'dld .season. - In- other-parts- Of India
"ifs< distribution is*-somewhat irregular, but -it was- obtained
'by^Capt. “B;. Wardlaw-Bamsay in'Burmah, and a form-Pi
dbubtful -specMC'v'alue .occursintfaya'I To the north-of-the
• great* Central Asian rangei-it appears :foJ%- principally a
spring and summer-visitant "Meeds-in Manchuria, and
many parts'-ofiChiha,- and a Slightly- !argin¥a@e^s a resident
ih--Japan. In Australia, a form wifi a somewhat- slenderer
bilbti maeP withi: -ms ‘* r" " ^ ^ ^ i
Beturning td’;the iveisty ourOcMds found -in the Azores,;
Madeira/and th'e^iCahaiiespk occurs upon^the^lakes mnd
- rivers nhNhrth AfricaV'SWarMi-ng In Lower* E^gyp«wmter,
- and,,; raflg-es ’ as far south /S-sHhe Blu^^Nilet‘fjS In Sout ern
Spain, how^Sf^ and in ^M^ornhcpf^rt-- meets with^yifp-near
‘ congener, the -Crested vdiich has W
-"Might red caruncles-onh'thfe frontal plate, and this^ptecies
replaces it throughoat';the"‘greattfen part^f^CeiitraL and
Southern A-fribtc.- .