MISS E. L. TURNER ON THE COOT AND CRESTED GREBE. 449 
XIII. 
SOME NOTES ON 
THE COOT, AND GREAT CRESTED GREBE. 
By Miss E. L. Turner, F.L.S. 
Read 2 yth January, 1907. 
I was first shown the two nests of the Coot and Great 
Crested Grebe which form the subject of the following notes 
late in April, 1906. 
Alfred Nudd, keeper of Hickling Broad, while hunting for 
a suitable Coot’s nest for me to photograph, had the extra- 
ordinary good luck to light upon both nests, only eighteen 
inches apart, and therefore easily within the focus of a half- 
plate camera. 
Early in May, Nudd began his preparations for my hiding 
place, and when I returned to Hickling on May 17th. I found 
the arrangements complete. A tiny duck punt — in which 
I have spent many days of watching and waiting — had been 
pushed into the reed bed, having only a heap of innocent 
looking litter on board. Every day this was worked a little 
nearer to the nests, until only about eight feet away, then 
some of the reeds between the punt and the nests were cut 
away ; just an armful day by day, so that the birds gradually 
became accustomed to more open surroundings ; those reeds 
nearest the nests were not cut away till the day before 
I commenced operations. On Friday, May iSth. I first became 
acquainted with these two families of birds, little dreaming 
that I should be allowed to pry into the sacredness of their 
domestic affairs, in fact, though on previous occasions I had 
been successful with the Grebe, hitherto my efforts to photo- 
graph foot had been quite unavailing, so that I had very 
little hope of succeeding with both these shy birds, together. 
