GREEN-FOOTED WATER-HEN. 555 



close to the water's edge, the nest and eggs are often 

 destroyed by floods ; and it is not uncommon to notice many 

 nests, both of this bird and of the Little Grebe, floating on 

 the swollen and turbid stream, and often containing eggs, or 

 sometimes young, which perish either from the absence of 

 the parent, or from their being unable to contend with the 

 current. The Water-hen has also various enemies, the more 

 destructive of which to the young birds are the Heron, the 

 Carrion Crow, the Moor Buzzard, and the Pike. 



" I know few sights more pleasing than that of a brood 

 of young Water-hens, led forth by their parents to feed and 

 sport along the silent margins of a lake or pool, thickly 

 studded with water-lilies. The lime and walnut are begin- 

 ning to shed their fragrance, hardly surpassed by that of the 

 citron groves of Andalusia, or the odours of 'Araby the 

 blest.' Yon castellated mansion, once the seat of lordly 

 baron or gallant knight, but now hoary with age and crum- 

 bling into ruins, gives solemnity to the scene. The setting 

 sun flings his golden rays across the lake, skirting the green 

 woods, and tinting here and there the crested turret, the 

 overhanging cliff, and the moss-crowned height. Beside 

 yon pollard willows the cows crop the fresh grass, while 

 forth sails the stately swan, giving her ample bosom to the 

 watery expanse, now ruffled by the evening breeze. There 

 too, afar, stands the Heron, watching his finny prey ; the 

 garrulous Wild Ducks chequer the little islands, the Coot 

 cries from amidst the sedge, the Sandpiper wails along the 

 shingly beach, and the sonorous croak of the Carrion Crow 

 is heard from the distant wood. Other sights and sounds 

 mingle with these, reminding us that we are in happy 

 England, but leading us to forget the object of our contem- 

 plation, — the Water-hen. Often this bird, partly crepuscular 

 in its habits, startles the evening wanderer with its sharply 

 reiterated chuck. In autumn it will haunt stubbles, for the 

 purpose of feeding on different kinds of small seeds, which 

 are found in abundance lying on the ground after the fields 

 are cleared by the husbandman. I have repeatedly seen it 

 perch on lofty trees after being flushed, and have known it 

 to frequent the branches of willows and other shrubs growing 



