562 



HOMES WITHOUT HANDS. 



fortable place, for Mr. Waterton mentions that on one occasion, 

 when he had built a neat little brick house for a duck, and fur- 

 nished it with dry hay for a nest, a "Water Hen took possession 

 of it, and the duck had to find a home elsewhere. 



Water Hen and Nest. 



Sometimes the nest is made on a branch, and in that case the 

 bird selects a very low bough which overhangs the water. I have 

 found several nests thus placed, and in one case the only method 

 of getting at the nest was to enter the water and swim round to 

 it. It is a large and rudely-made nest, and from its size appears 

 to be more conspicuous than is really the case. When it is placed 

 on a bough, the twigs of the same branch often dip into the wa- 

 ter, and the nest looks like a bunch of weeds and other debris that 

 have floated down the stream and been arrested by the branch. 



The similitude is increased by a curious habit of the bird. 



