The Coot — Fulica Atra, Linnæus
The Coot is found on most of the open sheets of water throughout the country; it differs from its other congeners in being far less skulking and spending most of its time out on the open water, and procures much of its food by diving. Its feet are lobed, that is to say, have flat extensions of the skin which is constricted at the joints, down all the toes.
The nest is a huge structure of reeds and rushes placed well away from the shore, in a small clump of reeds, and the eggs, which number seven to ten, are very pale stone colour, minutely speckled and dotted with dark brown. The young bird when first hatched is black except for his head, which is sparsely covered with coarse down-like hairs of a red and orange tint.
Its food consists of aquatic insects and vegetation, as is the case with the Moor-hen. In winter, although a resident, it collects in large flocks, and many visit the bays and estuaries round the coast, receiving considerable additions to their numbers from the Continent. The Coot is extremely wary and difficult to approach, taking wing on the least sign of danger; it flies well and fast, carrying its legs stretched out behind, but has to run along the surface of the water for some distance before it can rise. The sexes are alike and have the whole of the plumage sooty black, with a narrow white bar across the wing. Bill and frontal plate white; legs dark green. Length 15 in.; wing 8·5 in.
Although as a rule this bird casts its primaries at once, this is not invariably the case, as it sometimes moults them in pairs like the majority of birds.