268 MR. J. H. GURNEY ON COOT SHOOTING ON IIICKLING BROAD. 
to the Coots, and two more boats to pick up the slain, sallied forth 
from the north end of the Broad, and forming themselves into 
a line, advanced in crescent shape upon the Coots, of which there 
were about 3000, by the Rev. M. C. H. Bird’s estimate, and he 
judged that this was a larger number than he had ever seen on the 
broad before. Hickling Broad, formerly estimated at 700 acres of 
water, now at little more than 400, is irregular in outline, as will 
be seen by the accompanying map, prepared with Mr. Southwell’s 
assistance, and this is not favourable to the Coots, as it facilitates 
their being easily driven into one of the hays. That chosen for the 
first drive was against the promontory appropriately known as 
“ Swim Coots.” Towards this the Coots swam, but finding them- 
selves pressed, after a few minutes’ indecision they rose, not quite 
eri masse I understand, but four or five at a time, and flew back 
over the boats. 
Unfortunately, I did not arrive in time to see the first drive 
when the pack was at its densest, but Mr. Bird described to me the 
clattering, spluttering roar with which the sooty mass left the water, 
mounted to the wind, hung there for a moment, and then with 
legs stretched out behind (looking and acting like a tail) scattered 
in every direction amid a general discharge of fire-arms. In this 
sort of sport the great thing is to keep a good line, for if a gap is 
left the Coots make for it as I plainly noticed, and should any boat 
for selfish reasons try to better its position at the expense of the 
rest, it would probably spoil the day’s amusement. Or again, if 
boats stop to pick up the killed there may be the same result, 
and it is better to gather them afterwards, as was done on this 
occasion. 
In ‘ The Birds of Norfolk,’ the late Mr. Henry Stevenson, 
writing of these Hickling Coot-shoots, speaks of the Coots being 
driven out of the Reed beds and bushes on to the water, but this 
was not what I saw, and Mr. Bird remarks that such a method of 
attack would only be necessary if the waters were high, and the 
battue early in the year before the leaf was off the Reed ; at other 
times they are always to be seen swimming about. 
On rising, Coots strike the water with their toes, which at first 
hang down, but when once up, these birds, though they look 
ungainly, are capable of very strong and protracted flight, in fact, 
they are known to cross the North Sea. Although they do not 
