Greatcoat

“ The large man puffs himself out in his warm topcoat, which protuberates sensibly at the paunch. Someone looks at him enviously, because his deputy has at least asked him to wait, while others allege absence or simply send word that they cannot come. Perhaps he is also envied his warm overcoat, since there are so many thin suits under a wretched threadbare overcoat, worn through autumn and winter with pretended resignation, so many pepper-and-salt trousers under a green overcoat, so many trousers of a dirty yellow under a cinnamon-coloured, ancient, worn-out overcoat. ”

“ Hewitson tells us, upon one occasion when standing up to his knees in water, a nest made of flags and broken reeds afforded him a firm seat. The eggs are of a pale yellowish brown, delicately spotted with dark ashy green, and marked with brown. The Coot when properly prepared before roasting is tolerable eating, otherwise, it becomes imbued with a fishy flavour owing to an oil which exudes from the skin when cooking. During the winter great numbers are killed upon the coast while roosting on the sandbanks. ”

“ There's something sensible about a real, unadulterated top-coat; and there's a style in the way in which they've let down the skirts, and put on the velvet collar and cuffs regardless of expense, that really quite goes to one's heart. Now I daresay the man that built that," he said, more particularly addressing the owner of the coat, "condescends to live in a village, and waste his sweetness on the desert air, while a noble field might be found for his talent in a University town. That coat will make quite a sensation in Oxford. Won't it, Charley?" ”

“ The overcoat is a dark blue ulster-coat, reaching about midway from the knee to the foot, double-breasted, buttoning to the neck with seven large flat black buttons on each side, with a wide rolling collar, with a pocket having a vertical opening on each side above the waist, and fitted with waist straps at the back. Shoulder marks of the same design as those for the white service coat are worn with the overcoat and the rank of the wearer is indicated by stripes of black mohair braid on the lower part of the sleeve. ”

“ 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 ”

“ When more than two coats are to be applied, the filling should be done between the first and second coats, with ordinary pure linseed-oil putty.
It should be adopted as a rule, never to apply pure white as a priming coat; no matter whether the work is to be finished with one or four coats, the result will always be more satisfactory if the first coat be stained. A little finely-ground lampblack answers as well for this as anything.
The only way to produce solid, uniform work, is by making every succeeding coat lighter in tint than the one which preceded it. ”

“ The coats are very loose also, and expose the bare skin of the stomach when the wearer reaches his hands above his head.
The coats of the women differ from those of the men only in having a short tail in front, and a much longer one behind. They also have a loose bag on each shoulder, and the hood is much longer than the men wear. The women's outside coats are always made of the short hair, the same as are their ar-tee'-gee. Their trousers reach further below the knee, fit closer to the leg, and are worn with the hairy side out. Women never wear but the one pair in any weather. ”

“ Moreover, it is held that the fur being interposed between the ordinary coat and the great-coat, permits of a certain amount of healthy ventilation.
In the summer, when the weather is very hot, provided that a thick suit of clothes be worn, a great-coat is sometimes unnecessary, except as a protection from dust. A light dustcoat, made of a dust-coloured material and fitted with a high collar, will then be found useful, as after a dusty drive it may be taken off, and the ordinary clothes are left unsoiled. ”

“ It dives with ease, and when wounded is said frequently to clutch the weeds at the bottom with a grasp so firm as not even to be loosened by death. It does not often come on dry land, but when there, marches leisurely and not without a certain degree of grace. The feet of the coot are very remarkable, the toes being fringed by a lobed membrane, which must be of considerable assistance in swimming as well as in walking over the ooze—acting as they do like mud-boards. ”

“ Gray Coat always seemed to lead a charmed sort of life, for no matter how skilfully traps were laid for him he never ventured into one of them, no matter how pressing his hunger might be. Often, nowadays, he would starve for days because he hated the whine of the lumbermen’s saws, and they had frightened away the young deer, so that no longer did they come in early morning and at dew-fall to water at the old pool. ”

“ But although the sparrows will build in the cedars of Libanus, “the house of the coot is their leader.” What is the house of the coot? The coot, as we all know, is a water bird, dwelling either among the marshes, or on the sea. It hath rarely or never a home on the shore; but in places in the midst of the waters, and thus usually in rocky islets, surrounded by the waves. We therefore understand that the rock is the fit home of the coot, it never dwelleth more securely than on the rock. ”

“ The coot breeds abundantly in many of the larger inland waters of the northern parts of the Old World, in winter commonly resorting, and often in great numbers, to the mouth of rivers or shallow bays of the sea, where it becomes a general object of pursuit by gunners whether for sport or gain. ”

“ The overcoat for officers is a double-breasted sack overcoat of knee length made of forestry-green cloth. It has a turn-down notched collar with soft lapels, two horizontal side pockets with straight flaps, and shoulder straps similar to those on the jacket but slightly larger. On each of these shoulder straps is worn a Greek cross of red cloth or silk embroidery. The buttons of the overcoat are plain bone buttons of a color to match the coat. On each side of the collar one inch above the notch in the lapel the initials A. R. C. in plain bronze block letters are worn. ”

“ All overcoats are the better off by having plenty spring over the seat, and if there be too much spring, it is easy to sew it in. Dia. Xa will be found to represent an overcoat for a more forward-leaning form, but not for the stooping form. The neck is cut pretty well upward, and besides the three-eighths spring at the shoulder seam, the side of the neck must be stretched at least 3⁄8 to 1⁄2 inch on each side, or else the collar will be too tight. ”

“ They are not beautiful at all. And yet the owners of some of these plain coats are among the most honest and hard-working of all the little people who live in the Green Forest. They find it hard, very hard indeed, to understand why such a scamp and mischiefmaker as Sammy Jay should be given such a wonderful blue coat with white trimmings. ”

“ In this colder part of the animal's range, only white coats occur in winter. M. frenata likewise has a white coat in winter in the part of its geographic range where snow and freezing temperatures prevail throughout most of the winter and a brown coat in warmer, snowless areas to the southward and along the Pacific Coast. The third species, M. rixosa, exhibits a corresponding correlation between coat color and climate. On the Asiatic continent, several species, including M. erminea, provide parallel correlations and nowhere are there any exceptions for the subgenus Mustela. ”

“ The frock-coat should be ample and loose, and a tall well-built man may throw it back. At any rate, it should never be buttoned up. Great-coats should be buttoned up, of a dark color, not quite black, longer than the frock-coat, but never long enough to reach the ankles. If you have visits to make you should do away with the great-coat, if the weather allows you to do so. The frock-coat, or black cut-away, with a white waistcoat in summer, is the best dress for making calls in. ”

“ Under the cabin, Striped Coat was in his big bed curled up asleep but twitching occasionally as he dreamed of battles with old warrior rats. In the woodchuck’s burrow under the uprooted pine, Striped Coat’s mate was giving all the little “striped coats” their morning bath, using her wet tongue as the wash rag. And in the old den under the holly tree Striped Coat’s mother was doing much the same with four little ones which made up her new family; pretty youngsters, but all showing signs of having as much white as black in their markings, when they grew up. ”

“ Lagoons within the lagoon reflected the pellucid blue of the high sky and the crimson gold of the eastern horizon, seven-foot saw grass dividing them with its dense tangle. Out of this saw grass came the clucking of coot as the flocks began to bestir themselves. Then there was a great chorus of musical chuckles and a great cloud of witnesses to the joy of living arose. The coot spend the night in the water in the little pools among the saw grass, but the grass tops are full of blackbirds all night long. ”

“ That night Striped Coat took a long trip. He wandered far below the Farmer’s field and then to the sandy hill in the pines and lastly along the bank of Goose Creek. He met Mink and Coon and old Possum, Gray Fox, Brown Weasel, Bun and the deer from Cranberry Swamp. All looked at him and then gave him the path. Yes, there were many animals, but after all this was his range and he was master of them all.
Standing once more in front of the stone pile he shook himself until his fur stood out all over him, that fur for which any dealer would give a big price. ”

“ The flesh of the coot is very variously regarded as food. To prepare the bird for the table, the feathers should be stripped, and the down, which is very close, thick and hard to pluck, be rubbed with powdered resin; the body is then to be dipped in boiling water, which dissolving the resin causes it to mix with the down, and then both can be removed together with tolerable ease. ”

“ Thus, a strong constitution, [83] a good digestion, prolificness, and wariness, enable the coot to thrive, in spite of its showy livery. The first three of the above characteristics enable the species to contend successfully with climate and disease, which are checks on the increase of organisms far more potent than predaceous animals. It is also possible—but this has yet to be demonstrated—that the coot, although edible, is not considered a delicacy by birds of prey, and so is taken when nothing more dainty is obtainable. ”

“ It was a fine arrangement and Striped Coat liked it. He built a big nest of dry grass, leaves and cotton waste under the cabin and slept there instead of in his corner back of the wood box, but at night he often came out of the hole in the floor and walked around the room while Mr. Henry was eating supper, showing friendliness but in a dignified, distant way. After eating a few scraps he would go back to the hole, then out through the drain to the stone pile around which he would walk for a time scenting the air and making very sure all was well before leaving for the woods. ”

“ The bald coot is, as we have seen, a rail that has taken thoroughly to an aquatic life. The purple coot may be described as a rail, which, while displaying hankerings after a life on the liquid element, has not definitely committed itself to the water. The porphyrio, then, is a rail which, to use a political expression, is “sitting on the fence.” The indecision of Mr. Porphyrio has somewhat puzzled ornithologists. These seem to be unable to come to an agreement as to what to call him. Jerdon dubs him a coot, Blanford a moor-hen. ”

“ All this about Coate? Why, here are only half a dozen cottages, mean and squalid, with thatched roofs; and beyond the hedge are only fields with a great pond and bare hills beyond. "No one else," says Jefferies, "seems to have seen the sparkle on the brook, or heard the music at the hatch, or to have felt back through the centuries; and when I try to describe these things to them they look at me with stolid incredulity. No one seems to understand how I got food from the clouds, nor what there was in the night, nor why it is not so good to look out of window. ”

“ Is a three-seamed overcoat, and must be reproduced and made as fine work requires it, and the person who wears it must be well built, and with a rather small waist and seat. All clothing worn under the overcoat should be neat and well fitting. Erect persons should have the height of back at 13. The sleeve shown in Dia. X corresponds to Dia. Xa. The collar must be sewed on easy, on and along the sides. The whole front edge may be made 1⁄2 inch smaller than Dia. X.
Dia. ”

“ Many of the domestic kind in central and northern Europe and Canada are used for drivers’ and peasants’ coat linings, &c. In Great Britain many coats of the home-reared sheep, having wools two and a half to five inches long, are dyed various colours and used as floor rugs. Skins with very short wool are dyed black and used for military saddle-cloths. The bulk, however, is used in the wool trade. The Hungarian peasants are very fond of their natural brown sheep coats, the leather side of which is not lined, but embellished by a very close fancy embroidery, worked upon the leather itself ”