WATERHEN. 559 
escape the shot that was aimed at it, and progressing with great speed 
under water, it will make for the reeds or the aquatic vegetation, where it 
conceals itself. Occasionally it will remain for some considerable time with 
its body submerged and only the point of its bill out of the water, main- 
taining its position by clinging to the stems of the water-plants with its 
long toes. If suddenly alarmed on the land, the Moorhen usually takes 
wing at once, and hurries off to the nearest cover with its legs hanging 
down as if broken. Its flight is not very powerful, and the wings do not 
seem strong enough to support the body; but once the bird gets well into 
the air its flight is rapid and well sustained. The Moorhen often flies at a 
considerable height, generally at night, and in some districts it appears to 
take these nocturnal wanderings merely for amusement, or perhaps for the 
purpose of catching certain species of insects. Dixon has often known 
this bird to fly round and round in the air for an hour or more at night, 
every now and then utterig its singular cry. Sometimes when the 
Waterhen is feeding in the meadows near its favourite water it will, when 
alarmed, stretch out its neck to its full length for a moment as if watch- 
ing or listening, and then run off at full speed to the nearest cover. It 
is very remarkable how this bird will conceal itself even in places where 
there is little cover, and where all means of escape seem impossible. 
The Waterhen is rather pugnacious, and is very jealous of its own 
particular haunt. A pair of birds will take up their quarters on some 
small pond, or if a large sheet of water, some particular part of it, from 
which they drive off all intruders, and will even attack much larger birds 
than themselves, such as Geese and Ducks, if they happen to invade the 
sacred haunt. 
The food of the Waterhen is varied. It feeds largely on the different 
species of aquatic insects, worms, and the larve of dragonflies; and on 
the land it searches for slugs and worms amongst the grass. To this fare 
is added much of a vegetable nature, such as the buds, shoots, and seeds 
of water-plants and grass. In winter, especially during a long-continued 
frost, the bird may often be seen in the hawthorn trees eating the haws 
or scrambling amongst the brambles to pick off the hips of the wild rose. 
In districts where the haunt of this bird is exposed and bleak it will often, 
in winter, seek shelter amongst the tangled undergrowth of the neighbour- 
ing woods ; whilst if evergreens be near, nothing suits it so well as to wander 
under the low drooping branches or even roost amongst them. 
The Waterhen has been known to display carnivorous propensities, kill- 
ing and eating young Pheasants and destroying Ducklings. In many 
places it is so tame as to come onto the lawn to be fed, or mingle with 
Pheasants and poultry to pick up the food that has been scattered for 
them. The note of the Waterhen is a loud, shrill kek-ek-ek, modulated in 
various ways into kik-ik-ik or kerk-erk-erk. 
