150 MOUNTAIN AND MOORLAND 



the weeds ferment there is some heat produced, which 

 will help in the incubation of the eggs. These are 

 creamy-white but often stained, four to six in number, 

 and rather pointed at each end. The brooding bird 

 has the habit of rapidly covering them with water 

 weed as he or she leaves the nest, and this probably 

 helps to keep them warm during the parent's absence. 

 The young Dabchicks are able to dive as soon as 

 they are hatched, and they use their wings as well as 

 their legs under water. But while they are thus pre- 

 cocious, they are very carefully tended. The parents 

 sometimes carry them about on their backs, but 

 oftener it is tinder the wings that they find safety. 

 That is their usual position on the nest; and it is 

 said that the male bird does most in the way of 

 bringing in the food. If danger is great the parent 

 bird may dive with the young- ones pressed close 

 underneath the wings, and reappear among the weeds 

 where concealment is easy. 



