I50 WILD-FOWL AND SEA-FOWL OF GREAT BRITAIN 



The Moorhen domesticates itself, if the least 

 encouragement is given it, coming to feed with the 

 ducks with the greatest confidence ; in fact these 

 beautiful birds will at times get so tame as to be a 

 little bit troublesome. No matter where you may 

 see it, the bird always gives you the idea that in 

 some way or other it has been near or has mixed 

 with domestic poultry. Its movements when on 

 land lead in some measure to this idea, for it looks 

 like a half-grown black fowl running and picking 

 about. 



The legs and feet of the Moorhen are very beau- 

 tiful studies, illustrative of the perfect adaptation of 

 the organs of locomotion to either the water or the 

 land. I have spent days and weeks, as the chances 

 offered, trying to get all the information I could as 

 to this, as shown in the structure of the legs and 

 feet of all waders, and particularly so in the case of 

 the Moorhen. But to carry out these studies you 

 must have the birds alive,'or at least directly after 

 they are dead. It is not the least use softening the 

 legs and feet of fowl that have been dead a couple 

 of days, for by that time something has left them 

 which will never come back, and you might as well 

 try to put the bloom back on a peach after it has 

 been rubbed off. Those who have given such 

 matters a little attention will understand my mean- 

 ing, but it cannot be explained on paper. 



The Moorhen can both swim and dive, and he 

 flies well when fairly on the wing ; but as his real 

 flights take place, as a rule, at night, very little is 



