34 THE LIFE OF A BIRD. 



withered rushes and plants interwoven with more 

 labour than art in a circular form, surrounded 

 by an edge or rim four or five inches high. In 

 Lower Louisiana, Audubon found the nest within 

 five or six feet of the water's edge, among the 

 rankest weeds. In some instances it was placed 

 on a prostrate trunk of a tree over the water, 

 when the materials of which it was composed 

 were less abundant than in other circumstances. 

 He says, " I never saw one floating loose, but 

 have often heard people say they had occa- 

 sionally seen a nest in that state, although I 

 am not much disposed to give credit to such 

 assertions." A similar statement has, however, 

 been made on credible authority with respect to 

 our English coot, (fulica atra). The nests of this 

 bird are large, and, at first sight, apparently 

 clumsy; but on examination are found to be 

 amazingly strong and compactly put together. 

 They are sometimes built on a tuft of rushes, but 

 more commonly among the reeds. Some are 

 supported by those that lie prostrate on the water, 

 whilst others have their foundations at its bottom, 

 and are raised till they become from six to twelve 

 inches above its surface, sometimes in a depth of 

 one and a half or two feet of water. " So firm 



