128 The Field Naturalist" s Quai'terly May 



readily placed in some convenient and transparent vessel. 

 The plants recommended for this purpose are the Canadian 

 water -weed (Anacharis alsinastrum), the vernal water- 

 starwort {Callitriche verna), and the autumnal starwort 

 (C. autumnalis). 



Notes on the Nests and Eggs of Birds. 



By Rev. M. C. H. Bird. 



The other day I heard a doubt expressed as to the authen- 

 ticity of a picture in ' Our Bird Friends ' by the Messrs 

 Kearton, in which book a nest of the great crested grebe is 

 shown in close proximity to that of a coot, both nests con- 

 taining eggs. Having assisted in the procuration of that 

 photograph, I can not only vouch for its truth to nature, 

 but also assert that on the same day an almost exact coun- 

 terpart of that plate might have been obtained on the other 

 side of us, and within a hundred yards of where our flat- 

 bottomed boat was stayed whilst the first picture was being 

 taken. We were in a quiet corner, beloved of birds of vari- 

 ous species at every season of the year, and bearded tits, 

 reed-buntings, water-rails, yellow wagtails, snipe, wild duck, 

 plover, and redshank were all breeding within sight of our 

 boat, whilst we could also watch a small colony of rooks 

 busy on tops of the trees in a carr near at hand. The 

 close proximity of the coot's and grebe's nest suggests the 

 thought, Why should birds building so near together make 

 any different kind of nest ? and further, Why do not all 

 birds build similar nests, and lay similarly shaped and 

 similarly coloured eggs, of uniform size in proportion to the 

 dimensions of the parent ? How have the infinite varieties 

 of nests and eggs been brought about ? 



The earliest known egg- laying animals produced eggs 

 which were covered with a membrane only — no hard shell. 

 Shells and their subsequent variations, together with more 

 or less elaborate nests to receive them, were probably 

 evolved for protective purposes during that constant struggle 



