84 ORNITHOLOGICAL KAMBLES. 



above the edge of the water. Inside these, as I 

 expected, I observed one pair of the bald coot, floating 

 (so lightly do these birds swim) with their buoyant 

 bodies fully two-thirds above the surface of the water, 

 and so alive to danger that long before I reached the 

 low marshy portion of the shore, and had endeavoured 

 to take advantage of the slender covert that the reeds 

 afforded, they were sailing far away among the ducks, 

 out upon the bosom of the loch. No precaution or 

 manoeuvre would avail, and after duly reconnoitring 

 every portion of the soft ground, I quickly prepared 

 and commenced to wade. Having divested myself of 

 all superfluous apparel, I loaded with cartridge, and 

 succeeded, slowly but surely, in gaining the deeper 

 water, where the reeds suddenly ceased. The birds, 

 however, provokingly suspicious, increased their 

 distance in still greater proportion; and the bottom 

 now becoming at every step more soft and treacherous, 

 I was fain to make good my return, feeling much like a 

 fly that has made its escape from the tenacious surface 

 of a jar of treacle. 



This bird builds a very ingeniously constructed 

 floating nest, interwoven much after the fashion of an 

 old hamper ; and in a subsequent and similar foray 

 among the reeds of another loch (the loch of Skerrie), 

 I had the pleasure of finding one of them, though the 

 eggs were not yet laid. These nests are prevented 

 being carried away by floods, the materials of which 



