596 THE RAILS 



a narrow part of the stream with steep banks on either side, a dog 

 appeared and made a feint in its direction. At once, down it dived 

 out of sight in the twinkling of an eye ; and, after a moment, its 

 head reappeared, "just peeping above water beneath the bank." 1 

 This shows that both the act of diving and of submergence is 

 instinctive in the young waterhen. In winter the waterhen is 

 to some extent gregarious ; I have more than once seen over thirty 

 together on open water in mild weather. This was in the county of 

 Hertford and in St. James's Park. The same has been noted in Kent, 

 Surrey, and Essex, but not in the Norfolk Broad district. 2 Here the 

 species has such unlimited choice of good haunts that it is probably 

 not tempted to search for better, and so meet others of its kind 

 drawn to a common centre by a similar motive. But the species is 

 by no means so gregarious as the coot. 



In hard weather it resorts to running waters, also to plantations, 

 hedgerows, and farmyards. In the Norfolk Broad district in January 

 1867, during deep snow, many were picked up in the fields and lanes. 

 Others were found frozen to the ice on the broads, and some had 

 literally torn themselves free, leaving parts of their plumage adhering 

 to the ice. They fell easy prey to Crows, and no doubt other pre- 

 daceous creatures. 3 



At this season they roost frequently in trees evergreens, 

 conifers, willows, ash, hawthorn, and others. In these they may 

 be seen resting also in the daytime. Their ability to maintain their 

 balance on an insecure and slender foothold is remarkable. They 

 have been described as walking along twigs "that descended and 

 danced with their weight, . . . and this apparently by a power of 

 balancing their bodies which must far surpass that of the expertest 

 rope-dancer, as their long toes, incompetent to grasp so small a perch, 

 could not lend more than a very trifling aid to their holding on." 4 



1 Habit and Instinct, p. 64. 



2 M. C. H. Bird, in litt. Mr. Jourdain has seen seventy feeding together in a meadow near 

 a lake. 



3 Stevenson, Birds of Norfolk, ii. 420-1. 4 Zoologist, 1850, p. 2704. 



