Pond Life 
awaiting its arrival in a long burrow 
under the bank, like a rat’s hole. This 
seems a funny place for a highly coloured 
bird to choose for a nesting-place. But 
it is just because the bird is so brilliant 
in colour that the hole underground suits 
it so well. Hidden in this safe retreat it 
can sit on its eggs without any fear of 
being seen. Its young ones are nearly 
as bright as their parents when they 
have got their first feathers, and so they 
also are safer than they would be if they 
were reared in a more exposed situation. 
The eggs are very beautiful; they are 
nearly round, and of a pearly whiteness, 
and the shell is so delicate and trans- 
parent that the colour of the yolk shows 
through, giving them a rosy look. Even 
the nest of the birds is peculiar to them- 
selves and unlike that of any other bird, 
96 
