330 THE BIRDS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



scattered, unhurt. Though the Moorhen looks rather awkward 

 amongst branches, it keeps its balance well, even when on 

 swaying twigs ; indeed, it often roosts on a branch. Supple- 

 mentary nests and platforms are constructed, though second 

 broods are often in the first-used nest. The number of eggs 

 varies, usually six to ten, and at times one or two eggs lie upon 

 the others ; they are buff or clay coloured with red and purple 

 spots (Plate 148). Eggs in the middle of March have several 

 times been recorded, but April is the usual month, and two or 

 even three broods are reared ; young of the first brood will, it 

 is said, help to feed later nestlings. I have several times seen 

 odd eggs of the Moorhen in the nests of Coots, and there are 

 instances of Coots depositing an egg amongst those of the 

 Waterhen. Exceptionally the bird covers the eggs when it 

 leaves, but I have no recollection of seeing this myself, and 

 only now and then have found a nest over which the blades had 

 been drawn to aid in concealment. Most text-books, if they 

 mention them at all, say that the nestlings are black, but for 

 two or three weeks the coloration is remarkable. My descrip- 

 tion is from a bird just hatched. The down, for the most part, 

 is black, though hoar>- round the eyes and on the chin and 

 throat. Above the eye is a black line, and the crown is livid 

 blue, passing through pink to orange on the nape. Theseahng- 

 wax red frontal plate tops an orange bill with a yellow tip and 

 ;:anary-yellow nail, and the legs are olive-green, much darker 

 ihan in the adult bird. On the bastard wing is a distinct nail 

 or claw, which, like that of the Hoatzin, is used in climbing. 

 I saw a tiny bird scamble into the nest, using its wings as 

 hands, and Mr. C. B. Moffat tells me that he watched a 

 nestling climb from the water up a steep bank, three or four 

 feet high, clutching the herbage with its wing-claw ; it repeated 

 the climb after he had replaced it on the water. 



The adult bird, and the young after the first autumn moult, 

 is slate-black with deep brown wings, white under tail-coverts, 



