PARTKIDGE NESTING HABITS 149 



willow bough over the pool, was a moorhen's 

 nest containing six downy chicks and an addled 

 egg. For an hour I had watched the parent 

 birds tending their young and swimming and 

 diving into the pool. Darkness was drawing on 

 when I heard the clatter of a loose pebble on the 

 shelving bank immediately below the willow 

 root, and, a moment afterwards, saw the water- 

 vole creeping along the overhanging trunk to- 

 wards the moorhen's nest. As the vole neared the 

 outer branches a low gurgling call-note came from 

 one of the parent birds, and instantly each of the 

 chicks dropped over the rim of the nest and 

 disappeared. The vole reached the nest, and, 

 without hesitation, dived into the pool beyond. 

 Again I heard a slight sound on the gravel below 

 the bank ; then a full-grown otter came into 

 view, stood erect and sniffed at the willow-trunk, 

 climbed to the branch, and followed on the scent 

 of the vole. On the edge of the nest the otter 

 paused, moved from side to side as if intent on a 

 close examination of the spot, slipped into the 

 water, and glided from view just as the vole 

 floated up to the surface of the water in the 

 shallows near the opposite bank. Soon the pool 

 around the moorhen's nest was apparently the 

 scene of a tragedy. The old moorhens swam 

 along by the reeds at the margin, and hither and 

 thither past the willow bough, calling plaintively 



