31 8 BIRD LIFE GLIMPSES 



were the same that I had watched hatching out 

 their eggs in the original one, nor did I ever see 

 them on the latter, after they had once left it for 

 the others. 



It seems, then, either that the dabchick must make, 

 besides the true nest in which the eggs are laid, one 

 or more other ones of a different type, and which 

 are put to a different use ; or else, that it habitually 

 uses those of the moorhen, for this purpose — to sit 

 in, namely, after leaving its own — thus taking 

 advantage of the latter bird's habit of building 

 several nests. I believe, myself, that the two extra 

 nests, in which I saw my dabchicks, were moorhen's 

 nests, for not only did they look like them, but once, 

 when their usurpers were away, I saw two large 

 moorhen chicks climb, first into one, and then the 

 other ; and, on another occasion, they were driven 

 away from both of them by the mother dabchick, 

 who pursued them in fierce little rushes through the 

 water, with her family on her back. Some may 

 think that I have taken a long time to make out a 

 simple matter. What more natural than that a 

 mass of reeds and rushes — which is all a moorhen's 

 nest is — should sometimes serve as a resting-place for 

 other reed-haunting birds ? But there is a difference 

 between something casual and something habitual, 

 and everything I saw in the case of these two dab- 

 chicks suggested a regular practice. Parasitism in one 

 species of bird, in regard to the nest of another, 

 though not extending to the loss of the building or 

 incubatory instinct, is almost as interesting as if it 

 did, for we see in it a possible stage in a process by 

 which this might be reached. 



