i8o BIRDS, BEASTS, AND FISHES 



to come over of set purpose to build, and often begins to 

 build a rough nest of sedge and soft rushes, and the pale 

 grasses that grow like the stately rush. 



In the beginning of this leafy month, unless the season 

 be very backward, you may see old cocks here and there 

 scattered over the rush-marshes, sitting round on lumps of 

 stuff by the hour together, waiting for the females, who 

 arrive a fortnight later. 



Early in the morning, too, when the mists rise from the 

 cooling marshes, heated by the previous day's sun, you may 

 see one hunting very low, some two or three yards above 

 the reeds and swamp crops ; at times darting down like 

 lightning upon a mouse, nest of waterhen or rail ; then up 

 he gets again, flying backwards and forwards over his regular 

 beat, which rarely extends more than a mile from his flat 

 cock's nest. He seems a quicker and shyer bird than the 

 other birds — not so venturesome. And at this season the 

 ubiquitous gunner is upon his track, hiding in a clump of 

 sallow or behind a heap of mown litter lying in his beat, 

 watching for the big bird to loom through the morning- 

 mists, and as he flies overhead, the tongue of fire shoots 

 forth after him. 



But soon after they have paired the nest occupies all their 

 time that they are not feeding, for the cock's first attempts 

 are either ignored or improved upon by both the savage 

 housekeepers. If the marsh be moist, the flat nest — smaller 

 than a marsh-harrier's — is raised from seven to fifteen 

 inches from the marsh bottom ; on the other hand, if the 

 marsh be dry, the nest does not rise much above the 

 ground. And the materials vary according to the marsh 

 crops growing alongside — old sallow sticks, grass, soft 

 rushes, sedge, and occasionally a few of their own feathers 

 being the chief stuffs employed. And directly the first 

 egg is laid on the reedy boat — floating as it were on the 

 green sea — the hen begins to sit, and closely she sits, 

 never leaving the nest for long. Indeed, many fenmen 



