RENNIe's MONTAGU. 
3 
of the nest to moist plants, or to water, would cer- 
tainly prove fatal to the embryo chicks, were the 
bird to quit the eggs for a moment, unless she co- 
vered them with dry hay ? 
In 1 826, I was helping a man to stub some large 
willows near the water s edge. There was a water- 
hen's nest at the root of one of them. It had 
seven eggs in it. I broke two of them, and saw that 
they contained embryo chicks. The labourer took 
up part of the nest, with the remaining five eggs 
in it, and placed it on the ground, about three yards 
from the spot where we had found it. We con- 
tinued in the same place for some hours afterwards, 
working at the willows. In the evening, when we 
went away, the old waterhen came back to the nest. 
Having no more occasion for the labourer in that 
place, I took the boat myself the next morning, 
and saw the waterhen sitting on the nest. On 
approaching the place, I observed that she had col- 
lected a considerable quantity of grass and weeds ; 
and that she had put them all round the nest. A 
week after this I went to watch her, and saw she 
had hatched ; and, as I drew nearer to her, she went 
into the water, with the five little ones along with 
her. 
Birds which, on voluntarily leaving their nest, 
cover all their eggs containing embryo chicks, 
equally cover those eggs before they contain an 
embryo chick, that is, before they begin to sit. 
Now, during the period of laying, the old bird sel- 
dom returns to the nest above once in twenty-four 
hours ; and then only to lay an egg, and go away 
" b2 
