COOTS are clowns of the Rail family, good for a smile from all in the audience except the idiot who shoots them under the impression they are Ducks. No other American Bird has young so comically variant in dress. With their bald pates, faces colored like Iroquois Indians on the warpath, a glimpse into the family life of these grotesque fledglings is never to be forgotten. They share the extraordinary lobed toes with Phalaropes but all resemblance ends there. Like other members of the family they are reluctant flyers, preferring escape afoot; their "skittering" with pattering feet on surface of water is a characteristic so individual that Coots can be identified almost as far away as they can be seen.

The males are extremely pugnacious during courtship, selecting a certain area as their own and driving away any intruders. They fight with bills and feet so furiously that how they escape serious injury is a mystery. The females sometimes join and stage a real battle royal but after it is over there are no warrior dead on the battle water.