where I was sitting, and after
looking up they continued catching the small water-insects, etc., on
the weeds, without minding my presence in the least." What reward the
birds got for this gentle behavior, we learn from the sentence
following after the next two lines, containing the extremely valuable
contribution to their natural history, that "on dissecting the female
we found two eggs in her."

[24] The terminal 'pe' is short for pus, (pous!) and 'phalero,'
from phalera, fringes--"Fringe-foot" (Morris).

112. All other accounts concur in expressing (with as much admiration
as is possible to naturalists) the kindly and frank disposition of this
bird; which for the rest is almost a central type of all bird power
with elf gifts added: it flies like a lark, trips on water-lily leaves
like a fairy, swims like a duck, and roves like a sea-gull, having been
seen sixty miles from land: and, finally, though living chiefly in
Lapland and Iceland, and other such northern countries, it has been
seen serenely swimming and catching flies in the hot water of the
geysers, in which a man could not bear his hand.

And no less harmoniously than in report of the extreme tameness, grace,
and affectionateness of this bird do sportsmen agree also in the
treatment and appreciation of these qualities. Thus says Mr. Salmon:
"Although we shot two pairs, those that were swimming about did not
take the least notice of the report of the gun, and they seemed to be
much attached to each other; for when one of them flew to a short
distance, the other directly followed; and while I held a wounded
female in my hand, its mate came and fluttered before my face."
(Compare the scene between Irene and Hector, at page 393 of the May
number of _Aunt Judy's Magazine_.) And, again, says Mr. Wolley: "The
bird is extremely tame, swimming about my india-rubber boat so near
that I could almost catch it in my hand; I have seen it even, when far
from its nest, struck at many times with an oar before it flew away."
In its domestic habits also the creature seems as exemplary as, in its
social habits, it is frank; for on the approach of danger to her
nestlings, the hen uses all the careful subtleties of the most cunning
land birds, "spreading her wings, and counterfeiting lameness, for the
purpose of deluding the intruder; and after leading the enemy from her
young, she takes wing and flies to a great height, at the same time
displaying a peculiar action