MOORHEN. 329 



is well developed ; it will swim under water to the bank, keep 

 the body submerged, and protrude the bill only. I have seen 

 the red plate amongst the grasses, and have cautiously lifted 

 the hidden bird. Even newly hatched young will slip over the 

 edge of the nest and submerge. The vocabulary of the bird 

 is varied, and when males are fighting, a frequent occurrence, 

 angry and explosive. The loud, metallic call, which sounds to 

 me Vike. fttlluck^ and another softer note, tcheco, are common ; 

 the young, begging for parental attention, have a squealing, 

 complaining pitcheese^ pitcheese. One cry, tit-a-tit, quickly 

 uttered and not unlike a call of the Barn-Owl, is usually, though 

 not always, a flight note. It is heard when the bird indulges 

 in nocturnal wanderings, especially in spring and autumn, for 

 the Moorhen has a curious habit of flying at night, even amongst 

 houses, without apparent object. Display has been described, 

 rather elaborately, but what I have noticed most has been the 

 exhibition of the white under tail-coverts, as the bird swims 

 with the fore parts low and the lower back and tail raised. 

 Rival males fight like game-cocks, striking with both feet, even 

 when on the water. Serious damage is sometimes done, and 

 after pairing quarrels defeated males may be seen limping 

 with broken toes and dislocated thighs. When pressing his 

 attentions the male chases the female ; as Miss Turner says, 

 " he drives her from the open water, and then chases her up 

 and down ditches, or through tangled grass " (Plate 144), though 

 she probably has no real desire to escape. 



The nest is a rather well- woven platform of flags, reed- blades 

 or rushes, lined with grass, usually near the water's edge in 

 low vegetation, or in the branches of an overhanging bush. 

 Sometimes it is in a tree at a considerable elevation and away 

 from the water, its foundation being the old nest of some other 

 species. I have seen it in a fir, and several times in rhododen- 

 dron bushes many yards from water ; the young in down 

 toppled out of a nest in one bush, rolled down a steep slope and 



