90 KNOWING BIRDS THROUGH STORIES 



rail"; but when I became acquainted with this bird the 

 expression became very striking indeed. I used to wonder 

 what he did with his food when he swallowed it, for truly 

 he looked too thin to have room even for his food and his 

 digestive organs. 



With contented "tweet, tweet" he raced over the lily 

 pads until he came to an open place and to my surprize 

 without a moment's hesitation plunged into the water and 

 swam over to where there were more lily pads and 

 clambered onto them and went on his way into the dark- 

 ness beyond. I could hear his contented chirp for some 

 time, and then suddenly three or four more came running 

 down the beach and took their way out over the lily pads 

 as he had done. By frequenting these places I soon became 

 aware that these birds were nesting in the end of the pond 

 where it merged into a sort of a marshy place overgrown 

 with reeds and cat-tails. Here weeds and grass in abun- 

 dance had been heaped together on a bunch of broken 

 reeds above the water, making a pile several times as large 

 as the bird. The surface was hollowed out just enough so 

 that the eggs would surely remain in the nest. 



We are told that these birds sometimes nest some little 

 distance from the water, even occasionally building in 

 gardens under gooseberry bushes or in other well con- 

 cealed places. The bird lays from five to sixteen buff- 

 colored eggs spotted with brown and lavender. The young 

 birds leave the nest soon after they are hatched, and take 

 their part in chasing back and forth among the rushes 

 and over the lily pads in search of food. They live largely 

 on the insect life that is so abundant in the water, but add 

 to this various seeds, wild rice, and an occasional snail or 



