BEHIND THE VEIL IN BIRDLAND 



then they rapidly swim to their parents, who are always on 

 guard somewhere near. 



When the young birds are about ten days old, their parents 

 build extra nests for them to rest in ; I have seen four of these 

 large roosting nests built close to the nest proper, and the young 

 Coots will actually help in the construction of these. The Moor- 

 hen will do the same for its offspring, and as many as six nests 

 are sometimes made. One would have thought that such an 

 interesting habit as this would have been noticed by naturalists, 

 yet the author was the first to discover and record that both the 

 Coot and Moorhen did this. Evidently the parents find that 

 the nests do not grow in proportion to the rapid development of 

 the youngsters, and so they provide them with plenty of room. 

 In Norfolk, and other large marshy tracts where these birds are 

 common, we may see large numbers of these roosting nests 

 about. It was this fact that caused me to investigate the matter, 

 and I very soon discovered that the young birds were building 

 them. 



