WILD LIFE ON THE WING 
anticipation. Cearc-uise struck a fighting 
attitude over her eggs while the vixen delicately 
tested the depth of the water. However, though 
it was shallow enough under the bank, she 
dared not risk a spring into unknown depths, 
and curbed her impatience yet once more. 
VI 
That was the fourteenth day, and the moor- 
hens realized that something must be done, for 
the water was falling hourly, and there was no 
sign of rain. They began to build a refuge- 
nest, where the chicks-to-be might nest and 
bask safely in the sun, and the rats watched 
them solemnly. Karruck did most of the work 
because his mate was sitting so closely. 
The vixen came again that night, and the 
water was so low that she stood high and dry 
on the crooked alder trunk and tested a long 
branch which stretched out towards the nest, 
but it was slippery and yielding, and she drew 
back. 
All the next forenoon Karruck worked at the 
new refuge-nest in a desultory way. The first 
essay did not please him, so he began two 
others, and abandoned them after an hour's 
work. In the evening Cearc-uise went over 
and helped him to lay deeper foundations 
16 
