Ground and Underground Nests 



the more probable explanation is the protection of the 

 eggs. The moorhen chicks, beautiful little balls of black 

 down, take to the water immediately they are hatched, 

 for they are able to swim as well as their mother, whom 

 they always accompany during their early days. 



A very pretty sight is often afforded by young dab- 

 chicks and their mother. The dabchick is a little bird, 

 her chicks are minute ; there is no other word to describe 

 them. They swim merrily by the side of or near their 

 mother when no danger threatens, but, should they be 

 alarmed, they scuttle to her side with all haste and nestle 

 'neath her outstretched wings. Then she, for greater 

 safety closing her wings, dives below the surface of the 

 water, taking her family with her. 



To anyone who has not studied bird life it must seem 

 strange that birds, essentially creatures of the air, should 

 nest below ground. Curious as it may seem, the fact 

 remains that a goodly number of species are burrowers or 

 borrowers, for some construct their underground homes, 

 others appropriate the burrows of other animals. 



The early stages of the burrowing habit may be seen 

 in the nests of the black-backed courser, a Nile-frequenting 

 bird, which buries its eggs in the sand on the banks of 

 that river and leaves them to be hatched by the sun's 

 rays. When eggs are hatched in an incubator it is 

 necessary to sprinkle them with water from time to time ; 

 the courser also keeps its eggs moist by wetting its breast 

 in the river and then squatting on the sand over the spot 

 where its eggs are buried. 



A slight advance on this crude nest is shown by one 

 of the mound-builders, a bird which belies its name, for, 

 instead of building a mound, it burrows obliquely into 

 the sand, for three feet or more, and there deposits its 

 eggs. Having done so, it comes to the surface, covers the 

 entrance to the burrow, and leaves the rest to chance and 

 the sun. 



The kiwi, a New Zealand bird, and one of Nature's 



