EALLID^. 



487 



tlie thick reeds, and if a closer inspection were admissible, 

 many battles and skirmishes between them would be 

 witnessed for the choice of a mate. The Moorhen's 

 energies are also aroused in an extraordinary manner 

 when a rat swims across the river, and perchance lands 

 in the neighbourhood of its nest. '' I have seen," says 

 Mr. Gould, " a Moorhen furious at such an intrusion ; 

 and from the manner in which the rat has been assailed, 

 I suspect he would avoid that locality for the future. 

 Boldness and pugnacity appear to be part of the Moor- 

 hen's nature, and its quarrelsome disposition renders it 

 an un])leasant neighbour to any peaceful bird that may 

 live in close contiguity." His food consists of aquatic 

 insects and their larvae, mollusks of various kinds, every 

 species of grain, and the shoots of young wheat and other 

 cereals. The nest is sometimes placed on the flat branch 

 of a tree, at others on stumps near the water's edge, 

 among reeds, or on large floating masses of weeds. It 

 is usually made of rushes, and is somewhat carelessly 

 constructed. The eggs, which are from six to eight 

 in number, are of a reddish- white, thinly spotted and 

 speckled with dull orange-brown. 



