546 HOMES ■WITHOUT HANDS. 



■When it is placed ou a bough, the twigs of the same branch 

 often dip into the water, and the nest looks like a bunch of 

 weeds and other debris that have floated down the stream and 

 been arrested by the branch. 



The similitude is increased by a curious habit of the bird. 

 "When she leaves her nest, she pulls over her eggs a quantity of 

 the same substances as those which form the materials of the 

 nest, so that they Jirc completely hidden from sight, and the form 

 of the nest is quite obscured. It is true that the nest is not 

 unfrequently found with the eggs exposed, but this apparent 

 negligence is always caused by the frightened bird dashiug off at 

 the approach of the intruder, and having no time to cover her 

 eggs properly. The object of covering the eggs was once thought 

 to be the retention of heat, the neighbourhood of water being 

 imagined to be injurious. As, however, many birds build as 

 close to the water as does the Water Hen, and do not cover the 

 eggs, it is evident that concealment and not warmth is the object 

 to be attained. 



I may mention that the illustration was sketched from a nest 

 before it was removed, and that most of the nests have been 

 drawn in the same manner from actual objects. 



The eggs are many in number, seldom less than six, and often 

 eight, and their united weight is far from inconsiderable, as they 

 are fully proportioned to the size of the bird. The young are 

 the oddest little beings imaginable, looking like spherical puffs 

 of black down, rather than birds. They take to the water at 

 once, and if the reader can manage to watch the mother and her 

 little family, he wiU see one of the quaintest and prettiest groups 

 that our country can supply. The little black balls swim about 

 quite at their ease, keeping within a short distance of their parent, 

 and traversing the water with a rapidity that reminds the ob- 

 server of the gyrini, or whirligig beetles. In spite of the prolific 

 nature of the bird, it is not so numerous as it might be, having 

 many enemies in its youth, the worst of which is the pike, whicli 

 comes up silently from below, opens its terrible jaws, and absorbs 

 the unsuspecting bird. 



