PLAN OF STUDY. 



xi 



interlaced, which they attach to the stems of reeds, resting it on 

 their broken tops, or suffering it to float."* 44 Nest large," ac- 

 cording to Jennings, 44 made of aquatic plants not attached to 

 any thing, but floats among the reeds and flags penetrated by 

 water."f Belon, who is followed by Gesner, Aldrovand, Jon- 

 ston, and M. Drapiez, says, 44 it nestles near the ground upon 

 some turfy clump in a marsh, difficult of access." J 44 On our 

 large pools," says Buffon, 44 they build with reeds and rushes in- 

 terwoven, and the nest is half dipped in the water, though not 

 entirely afloat, as Linnaeus asserts, but shut and attached to the 

 reeds." § Wood subsequently adds in a note, || 44 they construct 

 a floating nest of reeds." 44 They build their nests," says Hill, 

 44 floating and loose among the flags," and 44 being altogether 

 unconnected with the reeds among which it floats, it sometimes 

 happens that it is blown from among them into the open lake. 

 In this situation the owner, like a skilful pilot, it is said, steers 

 the nest into a safe harbour, by passing her feet through it." % 



In all these various notices of the nest in question, by the well- 

 known naturalists thus consulted, there occurs no mention of any 

 covering of the eggs, though the inquiry has brought under 

 notice some other curious particulars, which, no doubt, a young 

 and ardent observer will be anxious to verify on the nest itself, 

 from which his book research originated. Some of the authors, 

 it has been seen, assert that the nest floats on water, nay, that it 

 is purposely built to float by the mother bird ; while others make 

 no mention of its floating, and some expressly deny it. In a 

 supposed case like this, it may, perhaps, be deemed premature 

 for me to decide ; but the nests which have fallen under my ob- 

 servation agree with those originally described by Belon,** in 

 being built on raised clumps in marshes, or at least so supported 

 by water plants as not to be intended to float. That in con- 

 sequence of floods these nests may, by accident, have been found 



* Cuvier's Animal Kingdom, viii. 629 ; and Temminck, Man. d'Qrn. ii. 719. 

 f Ornithologia, p. 189. 

 X Aldrovand. Ornith. iii. 106. Drapiez, Resume d'Ornithologie, 18mo. 



Paris, 1829. 



§ Wood's Buffon, xix. 226. || Page 230. 



% New Syst. of Nat. Hist. ii. 477, 8vo. ; Edin. 1792. 

 ** Oyseaux, fol. Paris, 1555, p. 177, 178. 



