224 WOODLANDERS AND FIELD FOLK 



some feet from the margin of the pool. In the 

 meantime the nest rose rapidly in height, and, 

 when the water began to retire, the eggs were brought 

 back and placed in the nest. In a few days these 

 were hatched, and the young were swimming with 

 their parents about the pool. The nest plainly 

 showed the formation of the old and new material, 

 and testified to the instinct or reason of the bird- 

 architects. 



Most aquatic fowl seem to remember by experience 

 that there is safety in being on water where coots 

 abound. These are such wary birds that they 

 immediately give notice of the approach of an 

 enemy, and especially during the day, when wild- 

 fowl invariably sleep. If attacked by birds of prey, 

 coots have frequently been observed to assemble 

 in a dense body, and, when the former made a stoop, 

 to throw up a sheet of water with their feet, and 

 with such effect as to make it difficult for the 

 drenched bird to reach the shore. 



