426 BIRDS OF NOEFOLK. 



summer amongst the reeds on tlie saltmarshes about 

 Salthonse and Cley, but fresli water localities are almost 

 invariably preferred in the nesting season, when, in the 

 same neighbourhood, they regularly frequent the ponds 

 at Hempstead, near Holt; and in one part, in close 

 vicinity to a water-mill, in spite of the constant noise 

 of the flushes.* 



Having observed these birds on "Bargate," the chief 

 expanse of water on Surlingliam Broad, still in flocks of 

 from twenty to thirty as late as the second week in April, 

 I imagine the nesting of the species does not usually 

 commence before May; and from the flrst to the last 

 week in that month I have found their eggs in various 

 stages of incubation. The nests, which vary some- 

 what according to their situation, are all more or 

 less compactly made, large in size, and composed of 

 coarse materials so firmly interwoven that Mr. Hew- 

 itson states he has found them capable of supporting 

 his weight. The outside of this ingeniously formed 

 basket, usually consists of dried flags, reed, and other 

 withered plants ; but I have occasionally known the 

 young reeds and rushes used in part, when the contrast 

 of the fresh green has had a very pretty effect. The 

 interior is hned with rather finer substances, chiefly 

 with portions of the dead leaves of the reed. Though 

 not unfrequently placed in dry situations — on the sedgy 

 bank of an island, or the rushy margin of a pond or 

 lake — I have more commonly found them, on the broads, 

 built over the water amongst the reed-stems, in shallow 

 spots, resting on the weeds at the bottom, in others 

 well raised above the surface, but so fastened to the 

 reeds themselves as to rise with the tide, though with 



* Mr. J. H. Gurney has also observed this species on the river 

 Mole, at Leatherhead, in Surrey, swimming about with young 

 ones at no great distance from the water-wheel of a mill. 



