THE GAD WALL. 329 



ations where they have not cover. They are, indeed, not 

 very frequently seen, as they feed chiefly during the night, 

 at which time they make a sort of hoarse quacking or jarring 

 noise, which betrays their presence ; but they generally hide 

 themselves during the day, and when they are surprised, 

 they conceal themselves by diving. From their habits, 

 indeed, one might infer that these birds are inhabitants of 

 the eastern marshes of Europe rather than of the regions of 

 the north, and that, as is the case with the other fresh-water 

 swimmers of that part of the world, though they find their 

 way in considerable numbers to the western shores of the 

 continent by overland flights, they more rarely take the sea- 

 voyage to our shores, and then only to those that lie the 

 most contiguous to the Netherlands. 



Length about nineteen inches, breadth about thirty-three. 

 Bill two inches long, flat, and black. Feet reddish orange, 

 irides brown. The markings of the plumage are exceedingly 

 minute and not easily described. The head and neck grey, 

 marked with brown points ; lower part of the neck, back, 

 and breast, with small black crescents ; and the scapulars 

 and flanks with zigzag lines of black and white. Lesser 

 wing-coverts chestnut ; greater coverts of the wings, rump, 

 and upper and under coverts of the tail, black. Primary 

 quills dusky. Wing spot white, bordered with reddish on 

 the one side and black on the other. Belly white, tail red- 

 dish, and white at the tip. Bill black, irides reddish brown, 

 tarsi and toes brownish orange, webs of the feet dusky. 



The nest is in humid places near the inland lakes and 

 marshes, being carefully concealed in the thick herbage, 

 sometimes in a tangled shrubby bush, or even in a hole of 

 a tree. The eggs are about eight or ten in number, of a 

 greenish ash colour. 



