272 MR. J. H. GURNEY ON COOT SHOOTING ON HICKLING BROAD. 
The feet in a very young Coot develop far more rapidly than the 
wings, being already three-quarters grown when the little winglets 
are barely an inch long. 
The first Ilickling Coot-shoot of the season is generally in 
November, and it is the custom to attack them two or three times 
during the winter, but the end of February is rather too late, as 
Coots pair in February when it is fine, though they do not begin 
to nest awhile. 
In a long continued frost, Coots which have not migrated stand 
a good chance of being starved. At such times they may be seen 
with feathers puffed out and heads drawn in, the most miserable 
of objects, standing helplessly on the ice, and if one is shot the 
rest make little or no attempt to escape, and I am ashamed to say, 
when I was a boy, this sort of sport had for me its attractions. 
Such weather would not be very favourable for a “battue” at 
Hickling Broad, but on one occasion, the day having been fixed, 
a sharp January morning, Mr. Bird writes : “We had to cut alleys 
through the ice to get to the Coots ; N. went in front, and waving 
his coat on the top of the ‘ quant ’ put the Coots up, ten boats 
accounting for one hundred and fifty. Three which I shot, which 
fell upon the ice, were frozen stiff in less than half an hour ! That 
day I noticed two or three tailless Coots amongst the slain, these 
probably had their tails frozen into the ice at the edge of a ‘ wake/ 
and when suddenly made to rise, pulled the feathers out. The 
broad was not entirely frozen over, and all Coots shot were in 
capital condition.” But it is not only in hard weather that Coots 
become tame, for on some of our preserved waters they pay little 
regard to a boat, and in a London park I have had a wild Coot 
come within two paces of me for a piece of bread. I have tried 
them in confinement, but have not found them suitable for a small 
enclosure. 
How long these Coot battues have been in existence Mr. Bird is 
unable to ascertain, but certainly as long as any of the present 
marshmen in his district can remember. Lubbock (1845) says 
nothing about it, but Mr. Stevenson speaks of it as being an old 
custom. I have already referred to his description (B. of Norf. 
vol. ii. p. 431), and the only other writer who has descanted on 
the pleasures of a Hickling Coot-shoot is Mr. P. H. Emerson, who 
has written an amusing narrative of what he saw in his ‘ Birds, 
