So.\JE Remarkable Nests and Eggs. 73 



the bird on her back without in the least disturbing 

 her ; and this is all the more wonderful when it is 

 taken into consideration that she is a very shy bird 

 when not engaged in brooding. 



In order that my readers should be in a position 

 to understand and appreciate the breeding habits 

 of the Ijird that supplies us with the materials for 

 the manufacture of the light warm quilts under 

 which most folks like to nestle on cold winter 

 niii'lits, I think it well to show bv illustration an 

 Eider Duck on her nest, a nest showing the eggs, 

 and one witli tlio down carefully folded over so as 

 to hide its contents. Tlic down is plucked from 

 the underparts of the birds body in increasing 

 (piantities as incubation advances, and serves another 

 e.\ceedinglv useful pur[»ose besides that of hiding 

 the eggs. It prevents an undue escape of heat, and 

 enables the mother Duck to remain away as long 

 as three hours at a stretch without fear of injury 

 to her forthcoming young. 



The eggs of these birds that make open-topped 

 nests and cover their contents when they leave 

 them voluntarily are — Grebes, white when newly 

 laid: Ducks, greenish or buHisli white: Pheasant 

 and Partridge, olive brown. 



Individual members of other species sometimes 

 tind it useful to hide their nests, and I have known 

 a Blackbird dispose her little home so cleverly in 

 the side of a hayrick that its presence was only 

 detected by a keen-eyed naturalist discovering the 



