16 IN THE GREEN LEAF 



by the sides of pools, left when the rivers have 

 gone down after floods. Or they frequent some 

 of those quiet pools well covered with weeds 

 in old orchards ; and the nest, if it can be called 

 one, is part and parcel of the surroundings. 

 That the nest is wet below, and that the 

 eggs f our) five, or at times as many as six 

 are covered over with wet weeds when the 

 bird leaves her nest, unless she is frightened 

 off it, every bird-nesting youngster knows 

 well. The eggs are strangely lengthened at 

 one end, very much like some of those old- 

 fashioned pears, called in some districts 

 "ladies'-fingers." 



Decaying vegetation naturally generates heat, 

 and a moist heat. From the time that the 

 dabchick's raft is completed, and the first egg 

 laid, there is warmth from the decaying weeds 

 as well as that from the bird's body. 



You know where her damp raft is, just under 

 that turf of fresh green tussock blades which 

 droop over it, and you are quite sure that a few 

 yards of snake-like crawling will have to be 

 done, up the low bank that runs round the pond 

 from the meadow below it. The edge of the 

 bank is gained without a rustle ; throw your 

 head on one side of some grass tufts, and look, 



