©) 7re NATURAL HISTORY 3 
or 20 eggs, and when the firft are. deftroyed, 
oftentimes the mother will again lay 10 or 12 
more. She makes her neft in a‘fituation that is 
overflown, and covered with dead reeds. she! 
chufes-a tuft of them, upon thefe fhe heaps ftill — 
more, and this mafs is raifed above the water; it 
is lined in.the hollow part with dry grafs and the 
: se seal of reeds, which makesa neft fo large, that i¢ 
_ may be feen from a diftance. The female fits: 
about 22 or 23 days, and fo foon as the little 
ones: are hatched, they {pring out of the neft, 
and never return into it again, The mother 
does not brood them under her wings; they lic 
. amongtt the rufhes all round her. She takes 
them {oon to the water, and ey fwim and dive 
very. well, 
At this. early age they are. coves with ae 
“blackith fmoke- coloured down, ‘This is the time 
_ that birds of prey deftroy fuch numbers of them 5 
they, often take away the mother and the young. 
Old Coots, who have often loft their broods, 
grow wife 5 they make their. neft along the fhore, 
among. the flags, where it 1s much better: con- 
-cealed: they keep their little ones in thefe clofe 
| places, overgrown with tall plants. Thefe are 
the broods that are. faved for {fo many of the 
| “others 

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