III. THE DABCHICKS. I 5 3 



" They have three broods in a season — the 

 first early in April; and they begin to lay 

 -again when the first hatch is about a fortnight 

 old. ,They lay eight or nine eggs, and sit 

 about three weeks, — the cock alternately with 

 the hen. The nest in the thorn-bush is placed 

 usually so high above the surface of the water, 

 they cannot climb into it again ; but, as a sub- 

 stitute, within an hour after they leave the nest, 

 the cock bird builds a larger and more roomy 

 nest for them, with sedges, at the water's edge, 

 which they can enter or retire from at pleasure. 

 For about a month they are fed by the old birds, 

 but soon become very active in taking flies 

 and water-insects. Immediately on the second 

 hatch coming out, the young ones of the 

 first hatch assist the old ones in feeding and 

 hovering over them, leading them out in de- 

 tached parties, and making additional nests 

 for them, similar to their own, on the brink of 

 the moat. 



" But it is not only in their instinctive 

 attachments and habits that they merit notice ; 

 the following anecdote proves that they are 

 gifted with a sense of observation approaching 

 to something very like reasoning faculties. 



