so RALLID.E. 



sometimes among stumps, roots, or long grass, on a bank at 

 the edge of the water ; and the bird has been known to fix 

 its nest on a branch of a tree which rested upon the surface 

 of deep still water. The editor of the Naturalist mentions 

 an instance where " the nest of a Moor-hen floated on the 

 water without having any attachment whatever with the islet 

 which it adjoined ; but was enclosed on all sides by sticks, &c. 

 Thus situated, the careful parents hatched their eggs in per- 

 fect safety ; though, had the water risen to an unusual height, 

 the case misfht have been otherwise." 



Rusticus of Godalming, in the fifth volume of the Maga- 

 zine of Natural History, says, " The piece of water called 

 Old Pond, about one mile from Godalming, on the London 

 road, is a most attractive spot to waterfowl ; and an island in 

 its centre is the resort of some of them in the breeding-sea- 

 son, and also a variety of other birds, which find it a safe and 

 unmolested place for the same purpose. I have often de- 

 lighted, in years that are gone, to visit this island and its 

 inmates : the owner, Robert Moline, Esq. used to allow us 

 free ingress to all and every part of the estate ; a liberty any 

 one with an incipient thirst for a knowledge of natural his- 

 tory would be sure to avail himself of. One day, having 

 pushed off from the shore, and moored the little shallop to 

 some of the osiers Avhich surrounded the island, I began my 

 accustomed examination. The first object that attracted my 

 attention was a lot of dry rushes, flags, reeds, &c. enough to 

 fill a couple of bushel baskets. This mass was lodged about 

 twenty feet from the ground, in a spruce-fir tree, and looked 

 for all the world as if it had been pitched there with a hay- 

 fork. I mounted instantly, thinking of herons, eagles, and 

 a variety of other wonders ; just as my head reached the 

 nest, flap, flap, out came a Moor-hen, and, dropping to the 

 water, made off in a direct line along its surface, dip, dip, 

 dip, dipping with its toes, and was lost in the rushes of a 



