62 NATURAL HISTORY NOTES. 



shall be surprised if we see one all day." We then sepa- 

 rated in order to fish the opposite end of the water. We 

 may have had one or two bites when I heard him call out, 

 and looking up I saw him with a black-looking object 

 dangling from his hand. He describes what happened as 

 follows : — 



" I noticed a slight movement amongst a mass of weeds 

 floating near the margin of the water ; at one point some- 

 thing seemed to rise from below, pushing up the weeds with 

 it, and then to subside a little. Thinking this might be a 

 fish, I cautiously placed my hand over the slightly projecting 

 mass, and then by a quick movement seized hold of some- 

 thing beneath. On withdrawing my hand, I found I had 

 caught a living moorhen by the head." 



At first the bird was quite passive and appeared to be 

 half-tame ; it soon, however, began to struggle, using its 

 strong legs very effectively. It was placed in a fishing- 

 basket and brought home. Although a very comfortable 

 run was made for the bird in the garden, with a pan of 

 water sunk in the ground and suitable food provided, I 

 regret to say that the moorhen died a few days after its 

 capture. It seems to me that the circumstances attending 

 its capture illustrate a method of concealment frequently 

 adopted by birds of this class. On approach of danger the 

 moorhen is seen to dive, and is then lost to sight. May it 

 not be in many cases that the bird has risen to the surface 

 under a mass of floating weeds, where it remains with its 

 head just above the water, but concealed under a canopy of 

 stems and leaves, being thus able to breathe freely and 

 perhaps to watch until the source of alarm has vanished. It 

 seems probable, moreover, that frequent repetition of such a 

 performance would give a bird such confidence in its safety 

 that it would allow itself not only to be closely approached. 



