330 BIRD WATCHING 



comes up with its green, shining burden, with which 

 it at once swims to the great heap of similar material 

 which both have collected, and which projects a few 

 inches above the water, at but a short distance from 

 the bank. The male is, if possible, more earnest and 

 indefatigable in the great work than even the female, 

 and, sometimes, he will work for a little alone, whilst 

 she is resting. Yet, with all this, it is apparent, at 

 once, that she is the more effective of the two, in her 

 actual workmanship. She dives more quickly, and 

 comes up each time with a larger load, so large, some- 

 times, that her head is pulled right back as she drags 

 it along the surface of the water. She places it, too, 

 — if this is not fancy — a little more deftly and quickly, 

 showing in everything a higher degree of professional 

 skill, though her colleague, besides being second only 

 to herself in this, seems, as I say, to glow with a more 

 ardent enthusiasm. 



Huge as the mass of weeds is, which constitutes 

 the nest of these birds, it is collected by them in 

 an astonishingly short space of time; how short, 

 I am not quite sure about, but this I can positively 

 say, that whereas on a certain morning I could 

 see no trace of it above the surface of the water, 

 on the morning after this it was to all intents 

 and purposes iinished, though the male bird, alone, 

 once added very slightly to it, not occupying more 

 than a few minutes in so doing. As to this, how- 

 ever, it can be said, in a certain sense, that the nest 

 never is finished, or, at any rate, not till after the 

 female has begun to lay her eggs. Morning after 

 morning the male brings weeds to the heap that his 

 partner is sitting on, but as I had to leave early in 



