The Zoologist— February, 1867. 603 



Little Grebe. — On the 3rd of May, after a short search, I came upon 

 a nest of this bird containing four fresh eggs. It was composed of a 

 mass of weeds heaped up on the surface of the water, and kept firm by 

 the surrounding reeds. The eggs were covered over with wet weeds, 

 and were warm. Ground colour of eggs dirty yellow; two of them 

 had some clouds of brown : they were oval in form, and measured 

 one inch seven lines by one inch. The interior of the shell was deep 

 green. On the 28th of May I found another nest, in which were six 

 eggs and the broken shell of another. The bird had not been hatched 

 more than one hour, yet it was nowhere to be found ; it had decamped 

 into the water. A proof occurred here of the small amount of warmth 

 required to hatch and keep alive the young " chick." I took away two 

 eggs, one of which was addled. On arriving at my rooms I laid the 

 eggs in the bath, and was surprised to hear periodical chirpings 

 coming from one of the eggs. Not having time to open the egg then 

 I put it away, and on taking it up the following evening, thirty hours 

 after I had taken it from the nest, I was still more surprised to hear 

 the chirpings again. Assisted by a friend I liberated the hardy little 

 monster, and wrapped him up in flannel : he departed this life, how- 

 ever, on the following day. The egg was not kept in a warm room. 



Coot. — The coot is very plentiful on the fresh water in the Essex 

 marshes : they are especially numerous on the lagoons at Pitsea. On 

 the 5th of May I found their nests in tolerable numbers in that locality. 

 I may remark that though I have never surprised a coot or a moorhen 

 on her nest, I have never found their eggs covered up, as is sometimes 

 stated. The habitation of the coot is constructed in water sometimes 

 of a foot in depth, its foundation resting on the roots of the reeds 

 among which it stands. Those I have found have generally been 

 neatly made columns of about two feet in height from their founda- 

 tion ; that is, in water of a foot in depth, they rise about a foot from 

 the surface. The materials of the column are reeds cut up to the 

 required length, and laid crosswise on one another around a common 

 centre with great regularity. The lining is a mass of cut-up reed- 

 blades, and the diameter of the column is about ten to twelve inches. 

 It is an admirable example of bird-architecture. The largest number 

 of eggs I have found in one nest is eight : they were of a stone-yellow 

 ground, speckled and spotted all over with small spots of dark brown, 

 slate-blue and bluish black, and measured two iuches two lines by 

 one inch five lines. The eggs of the coot do not seem to vary 

 much. 



