MOOR-HEN. 



29 



The Moor-hen is one of those well-known, half domes- 

 ticated species which afford interesting opportunities for ob- 

 servations on habits. Dr. William Turner, who wrote on 

 British Birds three hundred years ago, calls this bird a 

 "Water-hen, or a Mot-hen ; and Pennant says, that in the 

 days of moated houses they were very frequent about the 

 moats. They are found also on ponds which are covered with 

 aquatic herbage, old water-courses grown up with vegetation, 

 and among the rushes, reeds, and willows of slow rivers. 

 They can swim and dive with great facility, assisted by an 

 expansion of the membrane along the sides of their toes ; a 

 structure by Avhich they are connected to the fin-toed aquatic 

 birds, the descriptions of which will immediately follow. 

 Moor-hens are commonly to be seen on the surface of the 

 water, swimming along with a nodding motion of the head, 

 picking up vegetable substances, first on one side, then on 

 the other, and feeding generally on aquatic plants, small 

 fishes, insects, worms, and slugs, for some of which they may 

 be seen early in the morning, and again in the evening, walk- 

 ing over meadows near their haunts, diligently searching 

 among the grass, particularly after a shower of rain in sum- 

 mer ; jerking up their tail as they walk along, and showing 

 the white under tail-coverts. Mr. Selby mentions that he 

 has several times known this bird to have been taken on a 

 line baited with an earth-worm, intended for catching eels and 

 trout ; and infers, therefore, that it is by diving they obtain 

 the larger coleopterous water insects, aquatic worms, and the 

 larvae of dragon-flies, upon which they are known to feed. 



When suddenly disturbed, they will sometimes take a short 

 flight, with their legs hanging down, and will occasionally 

 perch in a tree ; they are, however, capable of more extended 

 exertion on the wing, but appear to prefer the security afford- 

 ed by thick rushes. 



The nest is generally placed among reeds on the ground ; 



