E. W. WADE : BREEDING OF THE BITTERN. 333 



shallow ditches, in one of which, placed amongst short 

 dead reeds, was the nest. Built of fine dead reed-stems 

 to a height of three or four inches above the water, with 

 a very shallow depression in the centre, it appeared too 

 small for a bird of this size. Scattered over it were 

 flecks of grey down, and in it six eggs. So small was the 

 surface of the nest that in brooding the eggs the parent 

 bird's plumage must have protruded beyond the edge. 

 We found feather-scale mixed with the nesting material 

 right down to the foundations, as if the bird had used it 

 constantly throughout the year as a resting and preening 

 place, added to it as it became padded down, and finally 

 laid her eggs upon it. This attachment to the nest was 

 observed in another case, where a bird flew up from an 

 empty nest in June, and examination showed the same 

 feather-scale throughout. Other nests were found in due 

 course, some in thick rush beds, others in floating patches 

 of dead bulrushes, some with eggs, and some with young, 

 and from these some general rules as to the nesting 

 habits may be deduced. 



If the haunt of the bird is in the neighbourhood of thick 

 rushes the nest will be found there, but if none are 

 present, an old bed of dead reeds or bulrushes, in which 

 the colour of the bird makes it almost invisible, is chosen. 

 Here the uncovered nest is easily seen {see text figure), 

 sometimes at a distance of twenty feet, but until the bird 

 leaves it, it is perfectly concealed. When the sitting 

 bird is approached she remains motionless until the 

 searcher is almost upon her, when she flies off straight 

 from the eggs, leaving her treasures exposed in the flat 

 insignificant nest, probably made so small from motives 

 of concealment. Sometimes it looks as though she 

 had appropriated an old nest of a coot, but the material 

 is always the same, viz., dead reed stems. The nest 

 is always placed above water, and even when surrounded 

 by dense rushes, is in a situation where the bird can fly 

 up easily (see Plate VL). She appears never to run like 

 a Rail, but more resembles the Heron in the nesting habit. 



