THE AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST. 181 
object in raising the spout was to prevent a pinioned Black 
Duck (Anas superciliosa) from interfering with the nest. 
Everything went on as I desired until the little rail be- 
gan to show signs of broodiness, which she did by fan- 
ning her wings and trailing them along the ground like 
an old Turkey-gobbler. This action of conceit seemed to 
excite the jealousy of the duck, for she spent most of her 
time either scolding the rail or practising a fluttering 
high jump, to secure possession of the hollow spout—a 
feat which she accomplished with less exertion after the 
initial entry. Hach time she entered the nest, she cau- 
tiously chipped an egg, so that she could carry it away 
conveniently between the tips of her bill to a pond, where 
an egg flip was systematically puddled to her liking. <A 
day or two after destroying the eggs’she rearranged the 
nesting material and lined it. with down, and then laid 
the maximum clutch of fifteen eggs. During this time the 
rail kept sentry on top of the log, and popped into the 
spout to sit on the eggs during the interval each time the 
duck jumped off for her food. This double shift continued 
until November 8th, when six young ducklings were 
hatched out. 
On the following day they jumped out of the spout 
and made off in haste to the pond, and as it was impos- 
sible for them to return again to the nest, the mother was 
compelled to desert the remaining eggs, and tend to the 
wants of her brood. Thereafter, the rail regained per- 
manent possession of her hard-fought-for log. It was just 
possible for her to cover one duck egg at a time, and for 
three days she manoeuvred alternately from egg to egg, and 
succeeded in bringing forth four healthy young ducklings. 
J examined the five remaining eggs and found them to be 
infertile. I placed the young ducks in the pond with the 
six previously hatched, with which they became quite 
friendly, and paddled about together, and left them con- 
tented, thinking that all trouble was now at an end. But 
when I returned later in the day I found three lifeless 
bodies of the later brood floating on the water, and was 
only just in time to save the fourth. The mother duck 
was deliberately holding it in her bill and plunging it 
under the water, evidently with the intention of drown- 
ing it, and probably the cther three had heen treated in 
a like manner. However, I rescued the little out-cast, and 
