158 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Habits of the water-hen and coot. 



Ones swim the moment they leave the egg, pursue 

 their parent, and imitate all her manners. She 

 rears, in this manner, two or three broods in a 

 season; and when the young are grown up, sh 

 drives them off to shift for themselves. 



As the coot is a large bird, it is always seen in 

 larger streams, and more remote from mankind. 

 The water-hen seems to prefer inhabited situa- 

 tions : she keeps near ponds, motes, and pools of 

 water near gentlemen's houses; but the coot 

 "keeps in rivers, and among rushy margined lakes. 

 It there makes a nest of such weeds as the stream 

 supplies, and lays them among the reeds, floating 

 on the surface, and rising and sailing with the 

 Water. The reeds among which it is built keep 

 it fast, so that it is seldom washed in the middle 

 of the stream. But if this happens, which is 

 sometimes the case, the bird sits in her nest, like 

 a manner in his boat, and steers with her legs 

 her cargo into the nearest harbour; there, having 

 attained her port, she continues to sit in great 

 tranquillity, regardless of the force of the cur 

 rent ; and though the water penetrates her nest, 

 she hatches her eggs in that wet condition. 



The water-hen never wanders; but the coot 

 sometimes swims down the current, till it even 

 reaches the sea. In this voyage these birds en- 

 counter a thousand dangers; as they cannot fly 

 far, they are hunted by dogs and men ; as they 

 never leave the stream, they are attacked and de- 

 stroyed by otters ; they are preyed upon by kites 



