MOOR-HEN, WATER-HEN. 421 



together in hard weather, and Mr. Lubbock speaks 

 of forty-three having been seen during a severe frost 

 in one open splash of water at the end of an alder 

 carr. In January, 1867, when a deep snow, drifting 

 in places with a high wind, stopped all trafnc for a 

 time, and was followed by several days of intense 

 frost, these birds suffered severely in exposed districts. 

 At Surlingham many were picked up in the fields 

 and lanes, either dead or dying, in a sadly emaciated 

 state. Others were found on the broad itself frozen 

 to the ice by their quill feathers, and in some cases 

 the poor birds had literally torn themselves away, 

 leaving portions of their tails and other feathers ad- 

 hering to the ice. The grey crows, more than usually 

 numerous, were very busy in despatching these unfor- 

 tunates, but a trap being set, baited with a dead water- 

 hen, one of the crows was caught, and his cries, acting 

 as a caution to the rest, they all disappeared and were 

 not seen again on the broad for a considerable time. A 

 sure indication of "hard times" is the appearance in 

 our markets of numerous coots, water-hens, and water- 

 rails, the two latter by no means to be despised for the 

 table ; indeed a young water-hen in good condition and 

 properly dressed is equal in flavour to many species of 

 wild-fowl. 



Pied varieties are so rarely met with, that I have 

 never seen more than one in Norfolk, the same men- 

 tioned by Mr. Lubbock, which was killed at Ranworth 

 by the late Mr. John Kerrison in the winter of 1844, 

 and is stUl preserved at the hall. This bird is 

 prettily mottled with white on the back and wing 

 coverts, and the extreme half of each wing, including 

 all the larger quills, is also white. If in this respect, 

 however, the water-hen is not given to variation, it 

 is nevertheless subject to a strangely abnormal condi- 

 tion of plumage, affecting alike the tints and the 



