of MontagiCs Ornithological Dictio7iary, 5 1 9 



vered that the eggs of the dabchick are affected by their 

 near vicinity to moist plants or to water, unless they are co- 

 vered either by the old bird, or with dry hay. The dabchicks 

 raise their nests upon a superstructure far above watermark. 

 Now, the height of the nest from the water, and the thick- 

 ness of the materials with which it is lined, will effectually 

 secure it from damp. Put your hand into the nest of the 

 next dabchick which you discover, and you will find that it is 

 quite dry. 



The waterhen is another bird which generally builds its 

 nest upon the sedges and rushes ; and it carefully covers its 

 eggs, both before and after it begins to sit : but sometimes 

 this bird makes its nest in a place warm and comfortable. 



In 1828 I formed a little structure, about a foot square, on 

 a dry island. It was intended for a duck ; and it was built 

 of brick and mortar. The top was well secured with a flag ; 

 and there was a hole left in the side, just large enough to let 

 in a duck. Some dry hay was put into the place, to serve as 

 a nest for the duck. But it so happened that the duck had to 

 go somewhere else to lay her eggs ; for a waterhen took pos- 

 session of this little structure ; and I found her eggs covered 

 with hay, both before and after she began to sit. Did she do 

 this to keep the eggs warm, lest their vicinity to the water 

 should prove fatal to the embryo chicks ? 



In 1826, a wild duck made its nest within two yards of 

 the water's edge, and upon ground not more than three inches 

 above watermark. She covered her eggs, both before and 

 after she began to sit. 



Another wild duck, in this same year, made her nest in the 

 thick ivy, upon the top of an old ruin, full 18 ft. from the 

 water; and she regularly did the same thing with regard to 

 her eggs. Did the last duck do this to preserve the eggs 

 from the fatal influence of the vicinity to water, full 18 ft. 

 below her, wdth a thick wall intervening ? 



While this duck on the ruin carefully covered her eggs 

 every time she voluntarily left the nest, a chaffinch, a wag- 

 tail, and a ringdove, building in the ivy of the same ruin, 

 never covered their eggs at all on leaving the nest; while, 

 in deep holes of the same ruin, a barn owl, a jackdaw, a 

 starling, a house sparrow, and a redstart, had their eggs 

 safely sheltered from wind, and cold, and rain. 



I offer these facts and observations to young naturalists as 

 a kind of Ariadne clew, to help them through the labyrinth 

 of waterfowl incubation. Should they not suffice, all I can 

 do is, to recommend the bewildered ornithologist to go to 

 that far eastern country where the vizier of Sultan Mahmoud 



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