OPEN NESTS 139 



heather or rank vegetation in swamps. Other 

 species of Geese make equally elaborate nests. 

 Then the nests of the Swans are elaborate and 

 bulky — great conical heaps of dead reeds, rushes, 

 dry grass, straw, twigs and turf, lined with finer 

 materials and a few down flakes and feathers. A 

 nest of Bewick's Swan, discovered by Mr Battye in 

 Kolguev, was a huge conical heap of moss with a 

 shallow cavity at the top for the eggs. Incidentally, 

 we may mention that Swans possess the habit 

 common to various other birds of adding to their 

 nests from time to time during the whole period of 

 tenancy, probably for the purpose of protecting it 

 from any sudden rise in the water level. Then the 

 Screamer (Palamedea cornuta) of South America, an 

 aberrant Anserine form, constructs an open nest of 

 rushes, the foundation of which is in the water. 

 Some of the most elaborate nests of the Galliformes 

 are constructed by certain species of Curassows, 

 Guans, and the Hoatzin. These are placed in more 

 or less lofty trees in the forests, and are composed 

 of sticks and twigs with a rough lining of dry grass 

 and leaves. Other species nest in parts of the tree 

 trunks where leaves have accumulated in the forks 

 of several branches, making no further provision for 

 their eggs. Respecting the nest of the only known 

 species of Hoatzin {Opisfhocomus hoazin), Mr J. J. 

 Quelch writes : " The nests, which are made solely 

 of a slightly concave mass of dried twigs and sticks 



