190 CAIAlJfiU'l: OF HIUDS. 



LESSER TERN.- -(Immature.) 



Case 200. 



Young birds in this stage are occasionally met with all 

 round our coasts during the latter part of August and 

 September. 



The specimens were obtained near Hastings, in Sep- 

 tember, 1858. 



MOORHEN. 



Case 261. 



This familiar bird, which is abundant from north to 

 south, appears quite as contented on the smallest pool, 

 or the narrowest drain, as on the most extensive lake in 

 the United Kingdom. 



Though not usually esteemed of much value as an 

 article of food, both the Moorhen and its neighbour the 

 Coot are, in my humble opinion, equal in flavour when 

 properly dressed, to any bird that is found in the 

 British Islands. Cooks, who are aware of the trouble 

 of plucking them, are sure to declare they require 

 to be flayed and then steeped in water, or possibly even 

 perpetrate some such enormity as burying them in a 

 cloth for several hours. Let them, however, simply 



