Song Birds and Water Fowl 



colors' would amuse the babies. My lady friend 

 quickly took the white yarn, with which she 

 adorned the upper edge of the cradle, but 

 ignored the other pieces ; either having enough 

 already, or being too wary to be ensnared by 

 their strong colors, which usually in such cases 

 are wisely avoided. The nest was finished on 

 the twelfth of July, and the first egg was laid 

 on the fourteenth, four others following on the 

 four succeeding days; quite pretty specimens, 

 thickly blotched with dark spots on a ground 

 of pale lilac. Among domestic fowls it is quite 

 uncommon for eggs to be laid after mid-day; but 

 the third, fourth, and fifth of this set were laid, 

 respectively, at about four, five, and six o'clock 

 in the afternoon. Incubation began immedi- 

 ately ; and in just thirteen and one-half days I 

 saw the five chicks fully hatched, closely packed 

 together, all breathing rapidly, and one gaping 

 furiously. It is quite likely that they had 

 already been hatched a full day when I first saw 

 them ; but it is very difficult to ascertain the 

 exact period of incubation, for the reason that 

 the mother-bird remains on the nest quite con- 

 stantly for the first few days after hatching, es- 

 pecially if the air is cool, as it was at this time. 

 Their tiny forms swelled so rapidly that in 



