THE BIRDS OF NORTH KENT. 57 



sods moved at the back end made it take its departure very 

 hurriedly, running along the ground some distance before taking 

 wing, when it was immediately joined by the mate, both uttering 

 the half-bark, half-cackle, which their cry resembles, as they 

 flew out over the river. This nest had ten eggs in it, which were 

 quite fresh, and were also laid on the bare pipe, with no feathers 

 or down around them. The third nest I did not examine in the 

 spring, but I was told of the bird having been seen going in and 

 out of the particular pipe in which the nest was situated. In 

 early September I looked at this pipe, and found a great mass of 

 down at the bend in the centre of its length. It may be con- 

 cluded from these observations that this bird, also, does not 

 start to pluck its down for covering the eggs until after the full 

 clutch is laid, and steady sitting has begun. The eggs in the 

 two nests first mentioned differed enormously in size ; three 

 which I took of the clutch of fourteen measured as follows : — 

 2-70 in. x 1-95 in., 2'75 in. x 1*95 in., and 2'70 in. x 1*95 in. 

 The two which I took from the second nest measured only 

 2*55 in. x 1'75 in., and 2"50 in. x 1'75 in. I should be inclined 

 to assume that the smaller eggs were laid by the younger bird. 

 I believe the eggs of the Mute Swan and domestic Goose also 

 vary in size according to the age of the bird. On June 15th, 

 1902, I came across a young brood of these birds with their 

 parents, swimming along the centre of one of the widest of the 

 fleets. My attention was drawn to them, as so often is the case, 

 by the excited behaviour of one of the old birds which I took to 

 be the male. It started flying round me in circles near the 

 ground, evidently in a great fluster, every now and then settling 

 in the meadow, and running quickly and actively away from me. 

 I was walking along the edge of the fleet at the time, and of 

 course I at once began to search in other directions than that of 

 the excited bird for the cause of its behaviour, and then I saw 

 the other old bird with seven youngsters swimming round it. 

 The young ones had a most curious appearance, from the mark- 

 ings of the down looking at a distance like black and white 

 transverse stripes. More close inspection with the glasses 

 seemed to point to the patches of black and white of the down 

 corresponding very closely with what would be the markings of 

 the mature bird. My sketch of these young birds made at the 

 Zool. Hh ser. vol. XI., February, 1907. F 



