OF IIARTING. 295 



of ! Out of any number of individuals casually 

 glancing at such an isolated mass, rising and falling 

 with the miniature swell caused by our boat, not one 

 would have suspected it to be what it in reality was 

 a literally warm bed, as well adapted to the purpose 

 for which it was designed, as the most downy couch is 

 to the most luxurious requirements of man. The boat 

 was soon brought alongside, and while one at the stem 

 and another at the stern kept it stationary by means 

 of the oars, I proceded leisurely to pick the nest to 

 pieces. To an investigator thus engaged, there was 

 nothing at first sight to indicate the presence of eggs, 

 particularly as two thirds, at least, of the materials 

 were under water ; but after I had removed quite a 

 thick stratum of flags, I discovered a carefully con- 

 cealed store of three only, and, to my further edifi- 

 cation, they were unmistakably warm a natural 

 consequence, as I surmised, of the evolution of heat 

 from the decomposing vegetable matter surrounding 

 them. The eggs in the other two nests were in the 

 same condition, and the nests themselves were pre- 

 cisely similar to the one I have just been describing. 

 As they were in deep water, several yards from the 

 bank of the pond and quite clear of the border of 

 sedge, they must, of course, have been retained in 

 their positions by some cunning device ; but although 

 after I had secured the eggs, I submitted each nest 

 to a careful scrutiny, I failed to discover it. I could 

 only infer, from seeing here and there the stump of a 

 flag under water, that some of the materials of which 

 the nests were composed had probably been only 

 partially severed from their stems." 



The Green Cormorant (Phalacrocorax Graculus\ 

 the Gannet (Sit la Bassana), in immature plumage, 

 the Herring Gull (Larus argcntatus] and the Kittiwake 

 (Rissa tridactyla), are the only other birds of which 

 we can record the accidental appearance here on good 

 authority. 



