302 BIRD LIFE GLIMPSES 



time that I had seen, jumped up on the nest whilst 

 the female was still there. On the 20th, coming 

 again at 8 in the evening, I find the bird on the 

 nest, but on going and sitting down on the willow- 

 stump I have mentioned, it takes the water and 

 dives. 1 see no young ones on the water, and, on 

 going to the nest, find it empty, with the exception 

 of one uncovered egg. The shells of the others lie 

 at the bottom of the stream. Going to the gate, 

 again, the bird soon returns, dives, puts some weed 

 on the nest, then swims away, and, as a joyous little 

 hinny arises, I see the other swimming up, and it is, 

 instantly, apparent that the chicks are on this one's 

 back, for it shows unnaturally big, and high above 

 the water. She comes to the nest, and, in leaping 

 on to it, shakes them off — three, as I think — into 

 the water, from which, after having paddled about, a 

 little, they climb up and join her. In a few minutes, 

 the partner bird swims up again, and stretching up its 

 neck, in the gentle little way that it has before done, 

 I feel sure that the chicks are being fed, though I 

 cannot actually see that they are, owing to their being 

 on the wrong side of their dam. 



Next day I come at 4 in the morning, and it is 

 as though there had been no interval between this 

 and my last entry, for the one bird still sits on the 

 nest with the chicks, whilst the other goes to and 

 fro from it, feeding them. This time I see it do 

 so, once, quite clearly. A little morsel of weed is 

 presented on the tip of the bill, which the chick 

 receives and eats, but just after this it goes off, with 

 the others, on the back of the mother. The latter 

 does not go far, but soon stops, and remains quite 



