few steps, all rose and flew off with speed towards the river, mounted high
in the air, came curving over me, their legs hanging behind, their wings
producing a constant whir, and at length alighted on a narrow channel
between the shore, where I was, and a small island. Following them
with caution, I got sufficiently near to some of them to be able to see them
leap from the water to seize the young leaves of the willows that overhung
the shores. While swimming, they moved with ease, although not with
much speed, and used a constantly repeated movement of the head and
neck, corresponding with that of the feet. Now, twenty or thirty of them
would close their ranks, and swim up the stream in a lengthened body,
when they would disperse, and pick up the floating substances, not one of
them diving all the time. On firing at a large group of them that had approached
me, they started off in various directions, patting the water with
their feet, and rushing with extended wings, for thirty or forty yards,
but without actually flying. After this, they made towards the brushy
shores, and disappeared for about a quarter of an hour. The rest of the
birds, which were a few hundred yards off, scarcely took notice of the report
of the gun ; and before I left the place, they had returned to the
shore, and walked into another savannah, where they probably remained
until night. The next morning not a single Coot could I find while looking
for them, for several miles along the river, and I concluded that they
had left the place, and continued their migratory journey northward, this
being about the beginning of the time of their general departure.
Whilst at General HERNANDEZ'S, in East Florida, I found the Coot
abundant in every ditch, bayou, or pond. This was in December 1831,
and in the next month I saw great flocks of them near the plantation of
my friend JOHN BULLOW, Esq. Whilst on a visit to Spring Garden
springs, at the head of the St John's River, I observed them to be equally
abundant along the grassy margins of the lagoons and lakes. On my return
from the upper parts of that river to St Augustine, on the 28th
February, I saw large flocks of them already moving northward. They
had suddenly become shy, and would rise before our boat, at a distance
of a hundred yards or so, with apparently scarcely any difficulty, and fly
in loose flocks at a considerable height, half a mile or more at a time,
and without uttering a note. Indeed, the only sound I ever heard these
birds utter, is a rough guttural note, somewhat resembling cruck, cruck9
which they use when alarmed, or when chasing each other on the water in
ansrer. I am doubtful whether our Coot cackles and cries by night and
by day, as has been reported ; on the other hand, I am pretty well assured
that Gallinules and Rails of different species have been confounded with
the Coot in this respect.
I never saw this species dive for food, and the only fish that I ever
found in the many that I have opened, was very small minnows or fry,
which I think they catch along the shallow edges of the water. Indeed,
unless when wounded, our Coot feels great reluctance at immersing its
body in the water ; at all events, it has not the quickness of any of the
diving birds, and rarely escapes the shot of a common flint gun while attempting
to get away. When wounded it dives to some distance, but as
soon as it reaches the grass or reeds, it contents itself with lying flat on
the water, and thus swimming to the nearest shore, on reaching which it at
once runs off and hides in the first convenient place. When undisturbed,
it feeds both by day and by night, and as often on land as on the water.
Its food consists of seeds, grasses, small fishes, worms, snails, and insects,
and along with these it introduces into its stomach a good quantity of
rather coarse sand.
The principal breeding places of this species are yet unknown to nie.
At Charleston it was supposed that it breeds in the neighbourhood of
that city; but my friend BACHMAN while searching for their nests at the
proper season, saw that the Common Gallinule was in fact the bird that
had been taken for the Coot. My learned friend NUTTALL mentions that
a pair had bred in Fresh Pond near Boston, and that he there saw parents
and young. Some travelling lumberers assured me that the Coot breeds
in numbers in the lakes lying between Mars Hill in Maine and the St
Lawrence River ; but I can find no authentic accounts of its nest having
been found in any part of the United States, although some probably
breed on the borders of our northern lakes.
In Louisiana, this species is named Poule d'Eau, which is also applied
to Rallus crepitans. In all other parts of the Union, it is known by the
names of Mud Hen and Coot. The appellation of " Flusterers" given to
it by Mr LAWSON in his History of South Carolina, never came to my
ear, during my visits to that State.
These birds are frequently caught in the nets placed across the bayous
of the lakes in the neighbourhood of New Orleans, for the purpose of
catching Blue-winged Teals and other Ducks. They come against them
while flying, but if the hunter is not extremely quick they make their
escape by nimbly scrambling up, using their bill and feet until they reach