Bolam: The Natural History of Hornsea Mere.  6y 
more which were not visible on account of the thick herbage. 
I saw them again on the 15th (two if not three of them), and 
again on the 25th, and on 11th June I watched a male 
fishing for some time just outside the reeds, and saw him 
catch and carry a small fish of about an inch long into the 
reeds, no doubt for the young, although these were not seen 
that day. He had previously made several other journeys to 
the reeds, apparently with food too small for my glasses to 
detect. The second nest in Heslop’s reeds was seen on 
12th May, when it was certainly empty. Four eggs were 
afterwards laid and the bird began to sit on the 20th. When 
I went to look at it on 11th June two eggs had already hatched, 
and the young had taken to the water, diving near the nest, 
while the other two eggs were both chipped and young dis- 
tinctly cheeping in them, and they were safely hatched later. 
The third nest, at the bottom of Heronry Wood, had two 
eggs, both rather dirty, when I first saw it on 25th May. On 
the 28th it had four eggs, and the old bird was beginning to 
sit. On 12th June it was found to have recently hatched. 
I was not prepared for this, and it was only casually that I 
happened to look at it that day, but all the four eggs had 
hatched, as demonstrated by the remains of their shells. The 
nest at the Hornsea end of the Mere had three eggs, then a 
little incubated,’on the 8th June, and it hatched off a day or 
two previous to 21st June. Four recently-hatched young, 
from.a fifth nest near the boat-house, were seen on 25th May, 
when they were not more than a day or two old. The apparent 
discrepancy in the periods of incubation is very remarkable, 
but there is no doubt of the facts as above stated. In one 
case it was certainly twenty-two days; in another apparently 
only sixteen or seventeen days at most; and in a third it 
would seem to have been even three or four days shorter. 
The ‘ seaworthiness’ of a grebe’s nest is well known, but 
it was so well illustrated at Hornsea this year that I am tempted 
further to enlarge upon it. On 22nd May, as already stated, 
we had a heavy rain all day, with a strong easterly wind ; 
the 23rd was also very wet, with half a gale blowing 
from east to north-east, clearing up in the afternoon: 
More than an inch of rain apparently fell at Wassand. - On 
the afternoon of 23rd I walked down to Hornsea and _ per- 
suaded Mr. Holmes to open one of the sluice-gates, thus some- 
what relieving the pressure, but the Mere was much flooded, 
all the ditches running very full, and more water was coming 
in than this allowed to escape. At the Boat-house the water 
was on the 23rd standing fully five inches above its level 
two days previously. As a natural consequence many nests 
were flooded, the wash of the storm assisting materially in 
the destruction of Coots’ nests, etc. The Grebes’ nests in 
1913. Jan, 1. 
