HOMES ON THE WATER 



this great mass of material that it is often capable of sup- 

 porting a very considerable weight. Sometimes the bird 

 takes advantage of a small islet covered with rank grass, 

 or a thick tuft of flags or rushes which grow out of the 

 water, above the surface of which the hollow of the nest is 

 never raised more than a few inches. When the coot has 

 found a clump of reeds to its liking, it twists and binds 

 them together so that they form a firm support on which it 

 piles up the coarse materials of its nest, winding the long 

 stems and blades round and round until the walls are strong 

 enough. Occasionally the nest does not form an absolutely 

 solid mass based on a fixed foundation, but is rather anchored 

 amongst the reeds and only partly supported by them, the 

 buoyant nature of the materials of which it is built helping 

 to keep the upper part of the structure above water. In 

 any case, the bird nearly always contrives to build in some 

 situation which cannot easily be reached from the land. Al- 

 though it is so bulky, the nest is by no means a conspicuous 

 object, so perfectly does it harmonize with its surroundings, 

 as do also the dingy, stone-coloured, brown-spotted eggs, of 

 which the bird usually lays from seven to twelve. 



The Moorhen, or Water-hen (Gallinula chloropus), makes a 

 somewhat similar nest, but is far less particular about the 

 exact locality in which it is placed. It is invariably found 

 in the neighbourhood of water, but it may be on a mass of 

 flags and rushes, or on the bank well above high- water mark, 

 or even on the branch of a tree very often on one that 

 overhangs and dips into the water, in which case the nest 

 may readily be mistaken for a mass of weeds which has 

 drifted down the stream and been intercepted by the branch 

 such a mass as you may constantly see after flood-time. 

 Mr. Waterton, the famous naturalist, tells us that a little 

 brick house which he had built for a duck, and furnished 



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