MOOR-HEN, ^WATER-HEN. 41 7 



I quite agree with Mr. Atkinson that the water-hen, 

 •unlike the dobchick, more usually seeks safety in flight 

 than by diving, but both methods are adopted under 

 different circumstances. If suddenly surprised on her 

 nest, the hen bird takes to flight, but if aware in time 

 of some approaching danger, she invariably, I believe, 

 dives from her nest as the course least Hkely to draw 

 attention to the spot; and the eggs will then in all proba- 

 bility be found covered, a precaution more particularly 

 adopted in exposed situations. So quietly is her exit 

 made that a slight bead on the surface alone indicates her 

 course under water, and till all danger has passed she 

 shelters amongst the adjoining herbage, with probably 

 only the tip of the beak out of water. This "state or 

 posture of submergence," as Mr. Atkinson calls it, is a 

 marked characteristic of this species, and one which 

 enables it to escape observation in spots where no other 

 means of concealment exist. In wide open drains, for 

 instance, the appearance of a slight bead on the water 

 as one approaches the bank, raises a suspicion of either 

 a water-hen or rat, and a dog well accustomed to the 

 sport, will readily discover the bird's hiding place, by 

 scenting it from above, or swimming close under the 

 bank, thus compelling it, however reluctantly, to take 

 wing. The water-hen till then, holding on with its feet 

 to the weeds under water, has probably protruded only a 

 portion of its beak in some crevice of the bank, and 

 though breathing with difiiculty, would thus in most 

 cases escape observation. In clear water, I have more 

 than once detected a bird in the act of hiding in this 

 manner, and have taken w^eeds from the clenched feet 

 of one shot under such circumstances. When shooting 

 at Keswick, near Norwich, where these birds are very 

 plentifal in the small carrs and osier grounds by the 

 river, I have watched their habits with no little interest. 

 Frequently when taking a stand at the further end of 

 3 H 



