154 BIRD BEHAVIOUR 



generally get on successfully with their broods, no 

 doubt not being tempted to sit so closely as Canaries, 

 owing to the need of seeking food for themselves. 



I noticed with the Dabchicks which bred on the 

 Indian Museum pond that they seemed to attach 

 no value whatever to their eggs till they had the 

 full set ; the first laid were allowed to lie, con- 

 spicuous as they were by their whiteness, uncovered 

 in the nest, which was only among the low-growing 

 kalmi or water- convolvulus or among thin reeds. 

 I can only conclude that the eggs escaped the 

 attention of the numerous House-Crows simply by 

 the dread these worthies had of risking their pre- 

 cious persons in the attempt to pick up an object 

 lying practically on the surface of the water, for I 

 found they did not dare to pick up bread thrown 

 into the pond, although the same species of Crow 

 down by the Hooghly picked food from the water 

 as a matter of course. 



When the Dabchicks began incubating, however, 

 they were careful enough, and always covered the 

 eggs before leaving them, after the usual manner of 

 Grebes ; curiously enough, however, though they 

 kept the nest piled up while they were brooding 

 the young on it, they did not raise it when they had 

 eggs and these were menaced by a flood, and lost 

 two sittings in this way in consequence. Under 

 similar circumstances a Swan, as is well known, 

 will raise her nest, but then she is always ready to 

 do this, if material is within reach of her bill. 



I noticed that with these Dabchicks incubation 



