The Waterhen. 85 
could be conceived than the beautiful down inter- 
woven with dry reeds of which the nest was 
composed, with here and there a bright green blade 
of grass shooting through it. 
As we turned round to continue our way, a dark 
coloured object floating on the stream caught our 
eye, and seeing that it was a bird we dropped on 
our knees, and watched it under cover of some tall 
flags. As the bird began to swim about, we saw that 
it was a Waterhen, or Moorhen as it is often called. 
It swam with a jerky motion, going from side to 
side in a restless manner, and moving its head 
backwards and forwards as it proceeded, every now 
and then dipping its head into the water in pursuit 
of some small fish or insect. At length it dived 
down and disappeared from view, and, as we watched, 
it suddenly emerged quite close to the bank, up 
which it climbed. A bird so clever in the water 
is usually clumsy on land, but not so the Waterhen. 
It walked about neatly and quickly, nodding its 
head and bobbing its tail all the while, each time 
displaying its white under-feathers. 
Evidently the food it had obtained in the water 
had not satisfied its appetite, for a slug or worm was 
every now and then found and captured; then a 
piece of grass or some grain was plucked up and 
eaten. We had been watching its graceful move- 
