( 359 ) 



THE PIED-BILLED DOBCHICK. 



Prodi CE PS Carolinensis, Lath. 



PLATE CCXLVIII. Male and Female. 



There go the little Dobchicks, among the tall rushes and aquatic 

 grasses that border the marsh. They have seen me, and now I watch 

 them as they sink gently backwards into the deep water, in the manner 

 of frightened frogs. Cunning things ! " Water-witches," as they call 

 you, I clearly see your bills, although you have withdrawn all of you 

 save those parts, and sneak off towards yon great bunch of bukushes. 

 Well, speed on, and may safety attend you ! Nature has granted you 

 means of eluding your enemies, and I am heartily glad to see that you 

 have profited by her instructions. I know you can fly too. How happy 

 must you be, to be thus enabled to migrate through the air, instead of 

 being obliged to labour for months with your curiously scolloped feet, in 

 removing from one country to another, as authors say you do. Ah ! you 

 have reached a small secluded pool, where you intend to breed in peace 

 and security ; there you are, collecting rushes and weeds to form a large 

 matted bed, on which you intend to deposit your pearly eggs. Labour 

 on, mind me not, I am a true friend and admirer of your race. I see that 

 among these plants you have fixed your tenement, in which there will 

 soon be five eggs, which, although tinged with green, will look as if pure 

 white. I wish I knew how many days of constant heat from your bodies 

 it will require to hatch them. Some other time perhaps you may tell me. 

 Miniatures of yourselves I now see swimming gaily, skipping, springing, 

 gliding, dipping, just like yourselves. So, you snatch the crawling bug, 

 and gorge yourselves with leeches, fish, and herbage. How fast your 

 young ones grow, changing from downy to hairy, and again to feathery 

 and silky. On winglets they jiow cross the clear pool, and crawl on the 

 opposite shore, there enjoying the warmth of the bright sunbeams. Sep- 

 tember has come ; plump and strong seven of you there are ; the even- 

 ing is calm and beautiful ; you spread out your wings, reach with some 

 difficulty a proper height, and swift as meteors glide through the air, un- 

 til, meeting with warmer waters, you alight on them, and there remain 

 for a season. 



