334 BRITISH BIRDS. 



The bird may be frequently flushed in the marsh, when it 

 flies three to four hundred yards, and if it has eggs, soon 

 returns to the nest. On one occasion, as we returned to 

 the boat after photographing the nest, we found the hen 

 bird in a reed bed, sitting with neck stretched straight 

 out only two yards from us. 



The eggs may be found from early April to the first 

 week in June, but the best average date is about 12th 

 May. They vary in number from three to six, and show 

 great differences in shape, from a long oval, pointed at 

 each end, to a short, almost rounded, egg, but very few 

 are without a finely j^ointed smaller end. In length they 

 vary from 2 5 inches to 1 J inches, and in width from li| to 

 lif inches. Some of each clutch are more incubated than 

 others and the young are of unequal sizes. In two 

 clutches we saw, the eggs were marked, the one with 

 small reddish-brown speckles, generally more numerous 

 about the large end, the other with dull sjjots and blotches 

 of olive-brown, especially marked about the ends of two 

 of the eggs. 



The young we saw were covered with a bristly light 

 reddish-chocolate down, more scanty and lighter-coloured 

 than in Gould's illustration,* nostrils, base of bill, eyelids 

 and chin bare, throat covered with scanty greyish-white 

 down. Gape, legs and feet, pale flesh colour ; irides, dull 

 greenish-yellow ; gullet, vermilion. On being disturbed 

 one of them threw uj) a fish a quarter of its own size, with 

 the head only half digested, and as this was about 1 p.m., 

 it is fair to suppose that a certain amount of feeding is 

 done by the old birds during daylight. 



The young have a very marked habit of stretching the 

 neck and head upwards, suggesting that they instinctively 

 assume the protective attitude characteristic of the old 

 bird. 



* Part TI. of the original folio of " Birds of Great Britain," or Plate 27, 

 Vol. IV., when re-arranged. 



