MR. J. II. GURNET ON COOT SHOOTING ON HICKLING BROAD. 273 
Beasts, and Fishes of the Norfolk Broadland.’ In the late 
Mr. E. T. Booth’s time (1869 — 75) the pastime had degenerated 
into a somewhat disorderly melee, hut he has also left his impres- 
sions in his Catalogue and ‘ Bough Notes.” 
At the mouth of the Khone, Coot-battues have been for many 
years quite an institution, and are carried out in very scientific 
style. Among French writers who have described them 
are Alexander Dumas, Louis de Dax, Dr. J. B. Jaubert, and 
A. Pellicot. I am not aware of any English ornithologist having 
witnessed the innumerable legions of Coots which are said to be 
then met with, though many have looked at the Etang de Berre 
from the railway, and Lord Lilford describes the putting up of 
printed notices in towns and villages, and was himself present «it 
a small battue in Corsica, when the rocketting Coots severely tried 
his skill as a marksman. 
Before quitting the subject, I should like to relate my experiences 
of the taking of Coots on the great lakes of Lower Egypt, where 
they were a staple article of food when 1 was there, selling on 
Lake Menzaleh for a shilling a-piece. The method of circum- 
venting them is most ingenious, but requires great circumspection 
and skill on the part of the operators. 
Having silently poled a flat-bottomed boat to within a few hundred 
yards of where the distant “muttering” proclaims the presence of the 
quarry, a man puts on a black skull-cap, and naked, except for that, 
wades into the water, taking with him a light casting-net ■wound 
round his arm, immersing himself up to the mouth as he gets 
nearer to the flock of Coots, which cease feeding at midnight, and 
after that are easiest of approach. The Coots think the approaching 
scull-cap is one of themselves, and do not discover the deception 
until the man springs up and the cast is made, when three or four, 
or more, are taken. The net has no rope of attachment, and is 
very small and light, but the rapidity with which it is thrown, the 
dexterity with which it is made to spread out, and the distance to 
which it can be hurled — twenty to thirty feet — are indeed great. 
The shallowness of the w r ater in those parts where the Coots 
generally feed must add greatly to the man’s difficulties, necessitating 
his advancing in a crouching attitude, and yet without disturbance 
of the surface of the water. This method could only be feasible 
in a warm country like Egypt. 
