384 RAILS. 



by the moorhen are the sedgy banks of lakes and rivers, reedy ponds, moats, 

 beds of osiers, wet ditches, &;c. It is naturally shy and recluse, avoiding the 

 presence of man by immediately retreating from the open parts to the thick 

 covert, or shrouding itself from observation by diving and remaining half 

 submerged until the apprehended danger has disappeared. Nevertheless, 

 although it will slip quickly out of sight on the appearance of a dog, or alman 

 with a gun, Mr. Wood remarks that "it will swim about with perfect self- 

 possession in a pond by the side of a railway, quite undisturbed by the sound 

 or sight of the rushing train. When startled, it flies rapidly across the water 

 with quick-beating wings and dangling legs, leaving a long track behind it, 

 which will remain for some time, like the wake of a ship. As it nears its 

 reedy refuge, it sinks nearer to the surface of the water, so that at the last 

 yard or two of its progress it drives the water before it, and seems equally to 

 run or to fly. When startled while swimming, it often dives on the instant, 

 and emerging under floating weeds or rubbish, just protrudes its bill above 

 the surface, and remains submerged until the danger is passed, holding itself 

 in the proper position by the grasp of its strong toes upon the weeds." This 

 natural shyness, however, is frequently overcome, and the -bird rendered semi- 

 domesticated, when its singular but graceful actions contribute to our pleasure 

 and amusement. On the water the moor-fowl is as bouyant as a cork, and its 

 powers of swimming are as perfect as th^se of most of our water-birds ; neither 

 is it by any means ungraceful on the land. Its neatly-trimmed body, richly- 

 coloured bill, and red-gartered green legs, contrast strongly with the sombre 

 tint of its plumage. It frequently leaves the sedgy coverts and walks quietly 

 over the grassy meads, lawn, pleasure-ground, or garden, with all the ease of 

 a land bird, flirting its tail from side to side, and conspicuously displaying the 

 white coverts, especially during the season of courtship. At this particular 

 period the moorhen becomes animated and noisy ; the short harsh cry of the 

 males is then heard from the midst of the thick reeds, and if a closer inspec- 

 tion were admissible, many battles and skirmishes between them would be 

 witnessed for the choice of a mate. The moorhen's energies are also aroused 

 in an extraordinary manner when a rat swims across the river, and perchance 

 lands in the neighbourhood of its nest. " I have seen," says Mr. Gould, "a 

 moorhen furious at such an intrusion ; and from the manner in which the rat 

 has been assailed, I suspect he would avoid that locality for the future. Bold- 

 ness and pugnacity appear to be part of the moorhen's nature, and its quarrel- 

 some disposition renders it an unpleasant neighbour to any peaceful bird that 

 may live in close contiguity." Its food consists of aquatic insects and their 

 larvrc, mollusks of various kinds, every species of grain, and the shoots of 

 young wheat and other cereals. The nest is sometimes placed on the flat 

 branch of a tree, at others on stumps near the water's edge, among reeds, or 

 on large floating masses of weeds. It is usually made of rushes, and is some- 

 what carelessly constructed. The eggs, which arc from six to eight in number, 

 are of a reddish white, thinly spotted and speckled with dull orange brown. 



