356 THE WATER HEN AND THE COOT. 



ones swim the moment they leave the egg, pursue their parent, 

 and imitate all her manners. She rears in this manner two or 

 three broods in a season ; and when the young are grown up 

 she drives them off to shift for themselves. 



As the coot is a larger bird, it is always seen in larger streams, 

 and more remote from mankind. The water-hen seems to prefer 

 inhabited situations : she keeps near ponds, moats, and pools of 

 water near gentlemen's houses ; but the coot keeps in rivers and 

 among rushy margined lakes. . It there makes a nest of such 

 weeds as the stream supplies, and lays them among the reeds, 

 floating on the surface, and rising and falling with the water. 

 The reeds among which it is built keep it fast, so that it is seldom 

 washed into the middle of the stream. But if this happens, 

 which is sometimes the case, the bird sits in her nest, like a mari- 

 ner in his boat, and steers with her legs her cargo into the near- 

 est harbour : there, having attained her port, she continues to 

 sit in great tranquillity, regardless of the impetuosity of the cur- 

 rent ; and though the water penetrates her nest, she hatches her 

 eggs in that wet condition. 



The water-hen never wanders : but the coot sometimes swims 

 down the current till it even reaches the sea. In this voyage 

 these birds encounter a thousand dangers : as they cannot fly 

 far, they are hunted by dogs and men ; as they never leave the 

 stream, they are attacked and destroyed by otters ; they are 

 preyed upon by kites and falcons ; and they are taken in still 

 greater numbers in weirs made for catching fish ; for these birds 

 are led into the nets while pursuing small fish and insects, which 

 are their principal food. Thus animated nature affords a picture 

 of universal invasion ! Man destroys the otter, the otter destroys 

 the coot, the coot feeds upon fish, and fish are universally the 

 tyrants of each other ! 



