166 tN BIRD-LAND 



wishing to see if an additional nest would be built 

 for the young to sleep in ; and sure enough, almost 

 as quickly as it was possible for the old birds to 

 build, a large and comfortable one was made, and 

 in such a position as to command a view from 

 nearly all quarters. This was thickly lined with 

 fine dried grass, and was sufficiently high above 

 the water to keep dry. For several evenings after 

 its completion I watched this nest, and nearly 

 every time the hen was seen to be asleep with 

 several young beneath her wings, so that I was 

 able to get quite close to both mother and family. 

 On the occasion of one of these visits I managed 

 to get almost within arm's length of the hen, but 

 startled her very much when a snapping twig told 

 of my presence. After this the nest began to get 

 visibly smaller each evening, so that I watched 

 the more closely, and was at length astonished to 

 find that the parents, evidently not liking my 

 intrusions, were moving the nest piece by piece to 

 the other side of the stream, and were there 

 rebuilding underneath an overhanging branch, so 

 that I found some difficulty in seeing it at all, 

 much more to reach the site. 



Along the banks of the Brook there is a 

 number of trees, principally oak ; the water has 

 washed away the earth from their base, and among 



