ENTERPRISING DUCKLINGS 127 



of the New Zealand Weka Rail, the parents, which 

 are flightless ground-birds, have been seen running 

 to and fro until quite weary, plying with food their 

 young which they had left in a place of safety. 



Grebes, again, nursed on the parent's back and 

 fed there or on the nest for a week or so, come 

 very near being mere nestlings, and are very feeble 

 at first, unable to do more than crawl, and un- 

 willing to swim ; and the Swans' cygnets are not 

 nearly so active on land as goslings and ducklings, 

 though downy and swimming well enough ; and 

 as their parents carry them on their backs, at any 

 rate at times, and do something to feed them the 

 Mute Swan, as is well known, pulling up weeds for 

 them, while the Black Swan, as I have seen, will 

 pull them grass from the bank these young also 

 seem to approach nearer the nest-fostered type 

 than the active majority of the family. 



Indeed, the young of several members of this 

 group are much more active and enterprising than 

 their parents ; young Mallard frequently dive for 

 food like young Tufted Ducks and Pochards, even 

 up to the flapper-stage, though adults very seldom 

 do so, and they are also very much more active on 

 land ; young Sheldrakes of three species that I have 

 watched, the Common (Tadorna vulpanser), Ruddy 

 (Gas arc a rutila), and New Zealand (C. variegate), 

 dive most freely for food during the first week or 

 two, while I have never seen the adults of any of 

 these species do this, while they readily turn tail-up 

 in the usual Duck manner, although in the ordinary 



