THE WATERHEN 589 



still defiantly erect, sound shrill notes of challenge. A few days 

 later I saw a similar scene acted, perhaps by the same individuals, 

 but though the victor still kept his tail bent down, the pursued had 

 completely lost heart. It raised neither its tail nor its voice. It was 

 content to use its legs and wings only. 



When two birds mean to pass from menace to blows they will, 

 after standing or floating a while, necks stretched forward and beak to 

 beak, suddenly spring up at one another, and strike with the feet after 

 the manner of game-cocks. One such fight I witnessed on the banks 

 of the lake in Regent's Park. Among other interested witnesses were 

 a female waterhen and some ducks. So great was the desire of the 

 latter to have a close view of the proceedings, that occasionally they 

 only escaped getting into the way of the antagonists by an exercise of 

 agility that was neither duck-like nor dignified. One of the water- 

 hens finally took flight. Occasionally the claws or toes of the fighting 

 birds become interlocked, and then they sit, supported on their 

 outspread wings, and tug and glare defiance. Their method of 

 fighting, as Mr. E. Selous has pointed out, is that of land birds. 1 

 Hence the extremely odd appearance of the birds when battling in 

 the water. They seem to be sitting on their tails and boxing. Their 

 method differs entirely from that of most diving birds, a fact which, 

 combined with the absence of webbed feet, points to the conclusion 

 that their aquatic habits are of comparatively recent date. 



The love-display of the species has been described by Mr. E. 

 Selous : " The two birds, male and female, advance a little one 

 behind the other with a certain something peculiar and highly strung 

 in their gait and general appearance. Then the foremost one stops, 

 and whilst a certain rigidity seems to possess every part of him, he 

 slowly bends the head downward till the beak, almost touching the 

 ground, points inwards towards himself. Meantime the other bird 

 walks on, with an increasingly stilted and, withal, stealthy-looking step, 

 and when a little way in front of its companion, makes the same pose 



1 Bird-life Glimpses, p. 284. 

 VOL. III. 4G 



