56 MOOR-HEN. 



MOOR-HEN. 



WATER-HEN. COMMON GALL.INUT.E. MOAT-HEN. 

 MOOR-COOT. MARSH-HEN. 



PLATE CLXXXI. FIGURE I. 



Gallinula chloropus, PENNANT. MONTAGU. 



frulica chloropus, BEWICK. FLEMING. 



r I ^HE nest of the Moor-Hen, which is large, is 

 -*- strongly put together, though only of rough work- 

 manship, and is commonly found well concealed among 

 reeds, long grass, or the roots of trees, just above 

 the water's edge, on the margin of a stream or by a 

 bank. It has been known as much as three feet above 

 the surface, on the stump of a tree, or even on the 

 lower branches of a fir, or in a thorn bush at that 

 elevation. The Rev. Leonard Jenyns has recorded one 

 instance in which it was constructed among the ivy 

 encircling a large elm, which hung over the water's 

 edge, at the height of at least ten feet from the ground. 

 He says, 'there was a reason for it, the rising of the 

 water in the pond frequently flooded the banks of the 

 island, and, as I had before witnessed, had destroyed 

 several broods.' One was built upon the branches of 

 a willow overhanging the lake at Castle Howard, at 

 a height of four or five feet above the water. A 

 writer in the ' Magazine of Natural History,' mentions 



