BRITISH BIRDS. 
2 ? 
them; it has a shriller cry; its evolutions are more 
rapid, and its turns, while on the wing, are shorter ; 
it seems to prefer the rivers, fens, marshes, and lakes 
inland, to the sea. It builds its nest among reeds and 
rushes, in marshy places, with flags and coarse grass, 
upon a tuft, just above the surface of the water. It 
lays about four eggs, of a dirty greenish colour, spotted 
and encircled with black about the thicker end. It 
feeds on beetles, maggots, and other insects, as well 
as on small fishes. Ornithologists and voyagers say 
it is met with at Hudson’s Bay, Newfoundland, and 
Iceland, and that it is common in Siberia, and the Salt 
Lakes in the desarts of Tartary. Our figure was drawn 
from a stuffed specimen in the Museum at Ravens- 
worth Castle. 
