Ornithological and Other Oddities 



but on another occasion, with another brood, I 

 saw a fish offered to all of them in succession. 

 None of them could negotiate it, so paterfamilias 

 wisely ate it himself. He was quite capable of 

 looking after the children, for I have seen the 

 hen leave them with him for a time, when the 

 way in which they chattered before the transfer 

 was made sounded as if they were able to discuss 

 the matter. A proof of the male's intelligent care 

 in the matter of food also occurred on another 

 occasion, when one young bird was lying on the 

 nest, the other two being brooded there by the 

 hen. He swam round the nest to get to the 

 outside bird, and gave it a shrimp, which it found 

 awkward to manage. Thereupon he took the 

 crustacean and worried it well, then giving it 

 back to the little one, which was now able to 

 dispose of it. 



This use of the nest as a resting-place was very 

 noticeable. As far as I could see, it was " made 

 up " and added to every day while the brood was 

 using it ; and one day I saw one of the downy 

 chicks, the eldest of the brood — though little 

 more than a fortnight old — actually putting some 

 material on the nest on its own account, before 

 the old bird began to do it. The nest, which 

 eventually sinks, was becoming very sodden, so 

 the little bird evidently thought it ought to lend 

 a hand in the repairs. The action strikingly 



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