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 traffic 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 still 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 
