672 CLASS AVES. 



set off separately, remain isolated in the reeds and rushes 

 the greater part of the day, travel by night, never stop 

 except when impeded by contrary winds, and proceed to 

 the northern regions to pass the summer. Some few couples, 

 however, remain with us, and nestle in marshy grounds. The 

 female usually makes choice of a thick tuft of rushes, of the 

 middle of which she forms a nest by cutting and bending the 

 stems. Such nests are, however, sometimes found in the 

 midst of brushwood at some distance from the water, and 

 these birds have even been known to lay in the nests of others. 

 The eggs are from ten to fifteen, and sometimes even eighteen 

 in number, and of a greenish-white. The mother strips her 

 breast to furnish the nest, and to cover the eggs during her 

 absence. She never alights at less than a hundred paces 

 from the nest, and takes a circuitous route to arrive there, 

 with her eyes constantly watching to see if there are any 

 enemies in the neighbourhood. Once fixed, however, on the 

 eggs, even the approach of man will not oblige her to quit 

 them. The male remains at some distance from his com- 

 panion, ready to assist and defend her. The incubation lasts 

 thirty days ; and as soon as the young are disclosed, the 

 mother conducts them to the water ; it is even said, that if 

 they are at some distance from it, the parents bring them 

 there one by one with their bills. The female rallies them in 

 the evening, conceals them in reeds, and covers them with her 

 wings during the night. The small insects, &c. which they 

 can catch on the surface of the water are their first food. 

 They are for some time covered with a yellowish down, and 

 are unable to fly until they ai*e three months old. 



These birds are exceedingly distrustful, make many cir- 

 cumvolutions before they alight anywhere, swim always at a 

 distance from the shore ; and when they sleep upon the 

 water, which they often do, one of them always watches as a 



