i8 IN THE GREEN LEAF 



to be left alone a little, you may now and again 

 see the young brood, but very rarely. Young 

 coots and moor-hens are common enough in 

 their seasons, but not young dabchicks. They 

 might have had moon-fern seed sprinkled over 

 them, for, unless they moved, a clutch of them 

 might be under your nose, stretched out, 

 mimicking bits of floating weed, without your 

 seeing one. Their food varies according to 

 the seasons, and their nesting -rafts differ a 

 little, but not much as a rule. 



Where raised nests have been found, they 

 have, I think, been caused by the birds and 

 their broods raising them in order to form 

 resting-places for the family. 



Birds very soon find out places where they 

 can nest in peace, and they gather there to 

 rear and train their broods ; not only in woods, 

 copses, or hedgerows, but on railway embank- 

 ments, taking little more notice of the ordinary 

 trains, or the thundering rush of the express 

 going at full speed, than they do of the soft 

 winds that gently sway the grass blades which 

 half conceal some of their nests. 



Why do pheasants, shy and wary as they 

 are, and partridges leave the coverts and their 

 borders to nest under a self-sown scrub fir, or 



