BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 97 



the word ' moor "■ is used in its older and etymologically 

 truer sense of ' marsh ' or ' mere."* Nowadays ' moor "" is 

 seldom used except in the sense of heath - covered up- 

 lands, and in this sense the names ' Moorcock "" and 

 ' Moorhen '' are sometimes popularly applied to the Red- 

 Grouse. 



It is often before March is out that the first clutch 

 of eggs is laid. The nest is a well-made, cup -shaped 

 structure of dead rushes and flags, and is placed among 

 the herbage or reeds or even low branches above or 

 close to the water. The flags growing around the nest 

 are often bent over it to form a sort of concealing 

 canopy. Several nests are for some reason built, or 

 partly built, by one pair of birds. In case of flooding 

 the eggs are said to be transferred to one of the nests 

 in a safer position. At other times the original nest 

 is added to in a similar emergency. The eggs are from 

 half-a-dozen to nine or more in number, and are huffish 

 stone-colour with reddish-brown spots. Three weeks are 

 required for incubation, and then the chicks emerge. 

 They are wide-awake and active little creatures from 

 the very first, and are provided with a covering of 

 black down. Within the first few hours they take to 

 the water, and from the start propel themselves skil- 

 fully ; but it is not till they become older and have 

 had much practice that they are proficient in diving. 



In connection with the chicks leaving the nest thus 

 early a curious point arises. At times the Moorhen 

 will nest in a tree by the lake-side, and may select a 

 position as much as twenty feet above the ground. This 

 is all very well for the adult Moorhen, strong on the 

 wing and perfectly able to perch on the boughs, but 

 what of the chicks ? We can easily discover that they 

 do not become nidicolous and inhabit the nest till they 



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