292 
NKSTS AND EGGS OF 
are struck together, the sound produced resembling nearly that of a couple 
of ivory balls when submitted to the same treatment. In size there is 
considerable variation, but in no instance will the eggs be found to rival 
the others in dimensions. The average length is 2.13 inches, and average 
breadth 1.72. Samuels mentions specimens that were 2.30 by 1.75, and 
others, more rounded, that measured 2.10 in transverse diameter, and 1.80 
in the other direction. 
Though jealous of her treasures, yet the female is not known to risk 
her life to save them. If the nest is approached, she maintains the utmost 
silence, and only ventui’es out when terrified by heavy blows on the trunk 
of the tree which contains her nest. Driven out, she seeks the pond or 
stream close-by, and from its bosom surveys the actions of the intruder, 
with not so much as a cry of remonstrance. If the latter is hidden 
from vieAv by the dense vegetation, she quits the water, circles over and 
about him, and is always careful to keep out of reach of harm. Her 
quiet demeanor and intense watchfulness betoken the distress and anxiety 
that reign within, and, to a person of the least particle of sympathy, are 
enough to cause him to give up his desire for pillage, forsake the scene, 
and leave that mute witness of his contemplated wrong in peaceful pos- 
session of her property. 
In course of time the young are hatched. Maternal joy is now at its 
height. However, the parent does not permit herself to be so completely 
carried away thereby, as to lose sight of their interests, but sets to work to 
remove them from their closely-cooped quarters. If their home is some 
distance from the water, she carries them one by one in her mouth, and 
lays them down by its banks. In changing from one stream to another, 
where some sj^ace intervenes, this is her ordinary method of transportation 
in their early ages. Almost as soon as the chicks have been placed in 
sight of the water, they require no coaxing to induce them to enter, but 
impelled by feelings of instinct, they plunge into its depths, and act as 
though they had been there before. While disporting themselves in the 
aqueous fluid, the mother exercises a strict surveillance, to prevent being 
