Birds. 4289 



to flutter down, and yet they too are often seen safely arrived and 

 sporting on the waves below. In all these cases then the removal of 

 their young by the parents must be a regular and systematic habit of 

 the species. But we have other accounts of species not accustomed 

 to remove their offspring, but which in time of danger or sudden 

 emergency have contrived to bear them away. Thus Mr. Edmondston 

 (Zool. 37) records how the sea eagle, having been disturbed in 

 her eyrie by the prying eyes of a daring fowler, contrived to remove 

 her nest and young to a considerable distance, and across a deep 

 creek. The moorhen is recorded on more than one occasion to have 

 made its nest in a tree, whence the chicks must have been carried to 

 the water ; and many other similar instances have been observed. 

 How then are these removals effected ? I answer, that in this case 

 the same method is not always employed : for to perform so delicate 

 an operation as the removal of a tender newly hatched chick, the 

 greatest gentleness is requisite, and so different species adopt dif- 

 ferent means, according as their own formation best enables them to 

 grasp their charge without injury. It is manifest that the webbed 

 feet of the ducks would be quite incapable of holding without a 

 severe squeeze the delicate duckling, while their broad flat beaks 

 seem admirably adapted for taking them gently and yet securely. On 

 the other hand, the long thin beaks of the Scolopacidae seem but poor 

 instruments for holding their young, while their feet are so formed as 

 to enable them to take them up without injury. Again, the guillemots 

 have neither beak nor feet adapted for the purpose, so they employ a 

 third method, and make a cradle of their backs: while others, as the 

 golden eyes, convey them under their throats : and others again, as 

 the grebes and the allied families which seek their safety in diving, 

 contrive to take their young under their wings, and so descend with 

 them to the bottom of the water, till the danger is over. There are 

 different methods by which different birds bring about the same 

 result ; and I proceed to prove this from the recorded testimony of 

 eye-witnesses and others. 



Some species use their " beaks : " for the truth of which assertion 

 we need go no farther than Mr. Yarrell. Speaking of the ruddy shiel- 

 drake he says, " when the young come forth, the mother will often 

 carry them from the place of hatching to the water with the bill : " 

 and of the common shieldrake, * when the young are hatched, they 

 follow their parents, and in some situations are even carried by them 

 in their bills to the water : " of the eider duck, " the young as soon as 

 hatched are conducted to the water, and this, in some instances, must 



