Nest and Position of Eggs Bly, 
had crouched in the reeds and run to its nest, and so allowing 
some yards for this evolution I took most precise bearings of the 
supposed spot and resolutely rode the line. After about three- 
quarters of a mile of splashing through the reeds and water, the old 
Crane rose some 40 yards right in front of me, and pressing for- 
ward I came on the nest some 20 yards nearer. Glancing around 
I found I was on the identical cross-bearing of the previous day. 
How and why I failed to find the nest on that occasion it is hard 
to say, for a short ride around brought me to the unfinished nest. 
It is a good example of the difficulties attending the finding of 
these huge nests despite years of practice, the aid of glasses and 
other resources of civilization. 
There lay the nest in the middle of a small pond of open water, 
here only about 9 in. deep. It was merely a platform of reeds, 
3 ft. 6 in. in diameter and raised 4 in. above the water-level. In 
a slight hollow in the middle of the platform lay two huge eggs 
of the usual type, very much elongated, and of a dull creamy 
brown colour with rusty spots and blotches and faint brown under- 
surface markings. 
They lay some inches apart, pointing the same way and with 
the larger ends inclined outwards. Wolley has recorded how in 
a nest he found the eggs lay ‘“ with their longer diameters parallel, 
and there was just room for a third egg to be placed between 
them.” It is just possible that the Crane arranges its eggs in this 
position in order to cover them more effectually during the process 
of incubation. Most people know very well the colour of the eggs 
of the Waterhen or Moorhen. These great eggs of the Crane have 
a strong resemblance to some of the commonly met with varieties of 
Moorhen’s eggs. 
Of course the chief difficulty in the matter of photographing 
the nest with the apparatus at my disposal (an ordinary hand 
camera) was caused by the surrounding mass of waving reeds, 
