AMONG THE REEDS AND RUSHES. 1 



or sit sunning themselves 011 a slanting drift-log; a big gray 

 bird called a coot and his smaller cousins, the rails, that come 

 stealing through the tall grass, or walk out on the lily-pads 

 with slow placing of their long-toed feet, or when they are 

 invisible, grunt and whistle among the fowl meadow-grass and 

 wild rice jungle ; and two kinds of busy, scolding marsh wrens, 

 which make the snuggest little round nests you ever saw, and 

 hang them among the stout stalks of bulrushes, cat-tails, and 

 tall grasses. These nests are made of coarse grasses, reeds, 

 and flags, and some of them are woven most curiously out of 

 the flat, dry leaves of the cat-tail. 'They are as waterproof 

 as our own houses, for the nest is spherical and the doorway 

 is a little round hole in the side. 



Such are the life and the home surroundings of the grebe. 

 She is fit for no other. Her broad, flat breast and long body 

 make her float like a little boat, and her silky, elastic feathers, 

 with a full undersuit of thick down, keep her warm and dry 

 in all weathers. To keep out of the rain she need only go 

 beneath the surface of the water! She can swim under the 

 surface as well as above it, and her feet, affixed at the very end 

 of her body, serve both as rudder and propeller. Strange feet 

 they are ; they look as if the grebe had once been like other 

 birds, but its feet had afterward been laid down sidewise and 

 stamped upon. They seem to be crushed flat. The toes are 

 thin, the shank is like a knife-blade, and the flattened toenails 

 seem to have been driven into the flesh. The whole foot is 

 neither horny like a crow's, nor plump and fleshy like a 

 duck's ; but a smooth-scaled, fleshless, unnatural foot. It 

 always seems to me to feel " fishy." Yet for its use it is 

 admirable. How swiftly it drives the bird ahead, cutting the 

 water with the least possible resistance ! How well it enables 

 the bird to run upon the surface or to dive beneath ! 



