ALONG THE RIVER i 93 



to find the same number of meadow-pipits' nests in a short 

 time. Cuckoos' eggs found in reed-warblers' nests are 

 suffused with a peculiar tint of olive green beneath the usual 

 vague freckles ; this rough approximation to the colour of 

 their brother-eggs is noticeable if we compare them with 

 the greyer cuckoos' eggs to be found in the pied wagtails' 

 nests in the willows, or the browner type which are usual in 

 the sedge-warblers' nests among the bushes and under- 

 growth. The young cuckoo is naked and copper-coloured, 

 and squats at the bottom of the deep conical nest like a 

 toad in a hole. Its task of murdering its mates is even more 

 remarkable when it is born in a reed-warbler's nest than 

 usual, for the sides of the nest are unusually steep and high. 

 This is of no apparent effect in discouraging the murderous 

 instinct of the little changeling ; its effect is to prevent the 

 legitimate eggs being blown out when the reed-beds dip deep 

 to the stroking wind. The nests are usually bound to the 

 reeds which support them by strands of reed-flower of the 

 previous year ; but reed-warblers have a sharp eye for other 

 and more convenient materials, and use thread for binding 

 their nests when they can find it. 



Except for the placid swans, which seem to take pride 

 in their favoured position as tame birds, the water-fowl of the 

 river are shy and elusive. We have to keep a sharp look- 

 out for a glimpse of the dabchick between its dives, and 

 when we hear its loud bubbling laugh it comes usually from 

 the midst of a thicket of water-plants, where the bird is in- 

 visible. Its nest is as elusive as itself. It needs some little 

 practice to distinguish it from merely casual heaps of water- 

 weed drifting on the surface by a shade more of design in its 

 moulding. It is a round sodden pudding, out of which the 

 end of one of the dirty white eggs occasionally sticks like a 

 large almond out of batter. After the first or second egg is 



(1,»22) 8 j 



