23 2 CARTER: MARFIELD POND. 



occupied by a gang of drainers they alighted in confusion within a 

 couple of hundred yards, and soon after took their departure with 

 loud cries. This is a most unusual date for Geese, and last week a 

 flock of ten flew over, and another was seen on the river. Moorhens 

 and Dabchicks were to be found on the pond all the year round, 

 unless frozen hard in winter, when they took up temporary quarters 

 on the river. Coots were regular spring visitors, arriving usually in 

 February and leaving in October. In very mild seasons an odd one 

 or two might be seen at intervals throughout the winter. Although 

 great numbers of these birds were hatched and reared in safety every 

 year, still only a limited number came to breed the following season, 

 generally seven pairs. Reckoning each pair to rear six young every 

 year, which is a low average, this gives 56 birds in all; but the next 

 year only seven pairs or so were to be seen. I presume, being such 

 quarrelsome birds, a greater number could not live together on it ; 

 perhaps, also, the food supply was not sufficient for more. In my 

 earlier nesting days I used to walk round and round the pond vainly 

 trying to. find a Coot's or Dabchick's nest which I could reach, but 

 the bottom was so soft and the reeds so thick that both wading and 

 swimming were out of the question, and if a too-confiding bird did 

 chance to make a nest on the margin, somehow the boys from 

 Masham generally found the eggs first, and, of course, took them. 

 After trying sundry barrels and washing-tubs in the river (which 

 only separates Marfield from Burton House), for I was determined 

 not to be beaten, I hit on the plan of turning a kitchen table of fair 

 size upside down, and, with a little putty in the cracks, I had a very 

 serviceable punt, though somewhat difficult to push through the 

 reeds on account of its square end. In this improvised craft my 

 younger brother and myself used to visit all the nests two or three 

 times a season, for three years, and mark the progress of the eggs 

 and young, until, after standing a great deal of banter from friends, 

 we built a small punt — which served our purpose until recently, when 

 we attained the dignity of a canoe, but fear we have made our last 

 voyages in the reedy recesses. In wet or snowy winters the ordinary 

 outlet was insufficient to run off the accumulating waters, and the 

 pond would increase largely in size, backing underground through 

 rabbit holes and drain pipes (for an attempt has been made a great 

 while since to drain it, but fortunately unsuccessfully) and forming 

 two or more adjacent sheets of water, one as large or larger than 

 itself. When keeping full, late in spring, the Coots, &c, would not 

 build until most of the rushes had grown through the greater depth 

 of water, and consequently they had much later broods. There 

 might be a nest or two made in the bushes on the margin, but the 



Naturalist, 



