IN FEATHERS AND FUR. 95 
BLACK WATER-BABIES. 
You know what a fuss our hens make if they chance to fall 
into the water, how they flutter and "squawk," and if they don't 
get out, they are sure to drown. Well, here in picture on next 
page is a droll black Hen, who goes into the water herself, swims 
and dives, and more than that, she takes her little black fluffy 
babies in with her, almost as soon as they get out of the shell. 
She don't look exactly like her cousins who live in your hen- 
coop, does she ? 
In the first place, she has long toes, with sharp claws. Look 
at them. They are so long that she can walk on the leaves of water 
lilies and not sink. Then she wears a black coat, and has some 
queer ways about making her nest. 
She generally selects a low branch of a tree, which hangs over 
the water, or a snug place among the reeds, as you see in the pic- 
ture. She builds the nest of weeds and grasses, so that it looks 
like a bunch of dried grass, and no one suspects that it's the home 
of such a lively family. 
When she leaves the nest, she usually covers it up with some 
of the same grass the nest is made of, to hide her precious eggs 
from thieves. 
The thief she dreads the most is the crow, who's extremely 
fond of eggs, and sure to be prowling around after his breakfast. 
Then I have heard of boys who would steal the poor little 
black mother's eggs, and even her house, too, sometimes. 
Unless she is frightened off, and leaves in a hurry, Mamma 
Water-Hen is sure to cover up the nest, and then it looks so much 
like a pile of weeds and hay, that it is pretty safe. 
When the chicks are once out of the shell, their black enemy, 
Mr. Crow, lets them alone, but as soon as they go into the water, 
another prowling thief awaits them. That's a fish — Mr. Pike — who 
comes quietly up under one as it swims about, opens his big cave 
of a mouth, and snaps it up in a minute. 
That seems cruel. But after all, it isn't any worse than the 
Water-Hen herself does. If her babies are eaten by birds and 
fishes, she herself eats worms and insects, and even small fish. 
