198 



HISTORY OF BIRDS. 



is obliged to reside entirely near fhose places 

 where her food lies : she cannot take those 

 long journeys that most of the crane kind 

 are seen to perform ; compelled by her na- 

 tural imperfections, as well perhaps as by 

 inclination, she never leaves the side of the 

 pond or the river in which she seeks for pro- 

 vision. Where the stream is selvaged with 

 sedges, or the pond edged with shrubby trees, 

 the water-hen is generally a resident there: 

 she seeks her food along the grassy banks, 

 and often along the surface of the water. 

 With Shakspeare's Edgar, she drinks the 

 green mantle of the standing pool ; or, at 

 least seems to prefer those places where it is 

 seen. Whether she makes pond-weed her 

 food, or hunts among it for water-insects, 

 which are found there in great abundance, is 

 not certain. I have seen them when pond- 

 weed was taken out of their stomach. She 

 builds her nest upon low trees and shrubs, of 

 sticks and fibres, by the water-side. Her 

 eggs are sharp at one end, white, with a tinc- 

 ture of green, spotted with red. She lays 

 twice or thrice in a summer; her young ones 

 swim the moment they leave the egg, pursue 

 their parent, and imitate all her manners. 

 She rears, in this manner, two or three 

 broods in a season : and when the young are 

 grown up, she drives them off to shift for 

 themselves. 



As the Coot is a larger bird, it is always 

 seen in larger streams, and more remote from 



mankind. The water-hen seems to prefer 

 inhabited situations: she keeps near ponds, 

 moats, and pools of water near gentlemen's 

 houses; but the coot keeps in rivers, and 

 among rushy margined lakes. It there makes 

 a nest of such weeds as the stream supplies, 

 and lays them among the reeds, floating on 

 the surface, and rising and falling with the 

 water. The reeds among which it is built 

 keep it fast; so that it is seldom washed into 

 the middle of the stream. But if this hap- 

 pens, which is sometimes the case, the bird 

 sits in her nest, like a mariner in his boat, 

 and steers with her legs her cargo into the 

 nearest harbour: there, having attained her 

 port, she continues to sit in great tran- 

 quillity, regardless of the impetuosity of the 



current; and though the water penetrates 

 her nest, she hatches her eggs in that wet 

 condition. 



The water-hen never wanders; but the coot 

 sometimes swims down the current, till it 

 even reaches the sea. In this voyage these 

 birds encounter a thousand dangers : as they 

 cannot fly far, they are hunted by dogs and 

 men; as they never leave the stream, they 

 are attacked and destroyed by otters; they 

 are preyed upon by kites and falcons; and 

 they are taken in still greater numbers in 

 weirs made for catching fish ; for these birds 

 are led into the nets, while pursuing small 

 fish and insects, which are their principal 

 food. Thus animated nature affords a picture 

 of universal invasion ! Man destroys the otter, 

 the otter destroys the coot, the coot feeds upon 

 fish, and fish are universally the tyrants of 

 each other '. 



To these birds, with long legs and finny 

 toes, I will add one species more, with short 

 legs and finny toes ; I mean the Grebe. The 

 entire resemblance of this bird's appetites and 

 manners to those of the web- footed class, 

 might justly induce me to rank it among 

 them ; but as it resembles those above des- 

 cribed, in the peculiar form of its toes, and 

 bears some similitude in its manners also, I 

 will for once sacrifice method to brevity. The 

 grebe is much larger than either of the former, 

 and its plumage white and black ; it differs 

 also entirely in the shortness of its legs, 

 which are made for swimming, and not walk- 

 ing : in fact, they are from the knee upward 

 hid in the belly of the bird, and have conse- 

 quently very little motion. By this mark, 

 and by the scolloped fringe of the toes, may 

 this bird be easily distinguished from all 

 other. 



As they are thus, from the shortness of 

 their wings, ill formed for flying, and from 

 the uncommon shortness of their legs utterly 

 unfitted for walking, they seldom leave the 

 water, and chiefly frequent those broad shal- 

 low pools where their faculty of swimming 

 can be turned to the greatest advantage, in 

 fishing and seeking their prey. 



They are chiefly, in this country, seen to 

 frequent the meres of Shropshire and Che- 

 shire ; where they breed among reeds and 

 flags, in a floating nest, kept steady by the 

 weeds of the margin. The female is said to 

 be a careful nurse of her young, being ob- 

 served to feed them most assiduously with 

 small eels; and when the little brood is tired, 

 the mother will carry them either on her back 

 or under her wings. This bird preys upon 

 fish, and is always perpetually diving. It 

 does not show much more than the head above 

 water ; and is very difficult to be shot, as it 

 darts down on the appearance of the least 



