156 ON SURREY HILLS. 



all about more than you can see it coots clank 

 and click, moor-hens call, little grebes chatter, and 

 the water-rail grunts and squeaks ; but you will see 

 little of it, for in the breeding season they keep very 

 close. One might be easily forgiven for taking the 

 nest of coot or moor-hen for a mere heap of sedge- 

 drift, or that of the little grebe for a lump of green 

 stuff a trifle higher than the surrounding weeds, 

 so artless, apparently, and yet hidden with what 

 seems such consummate art, are the nests, if the 

 slight platform of damp weed-tangle can be called 

 by that name. In the case of that of the little 

 grebe or dabchick, it is absolutely wet from the 

 time the eggs are first laid, up to the moment when 

 the little creatures burst from their shells. 



All these birds know well that the pike is on the 

 watch for their broods at this season, and they use 

 the greatest precautions. I have watched them exer- 

 cise these repeatedly. In spite of all they can do, 

 numbers of their progeny come to grief. Even the 

 kingfisher becomes uneasy when the pike is on the 

 watch ; and he will not rest, as is usually his wont, on 

 any twig so low down as nearly to touch the water, 

 when the great fish is on the alert for feathered prey. 



