MOOR-HEN. 133 



no more occasion for the labourer in that place, I took 

 the boat myself the next morning, and saw the Water-ken 

 sitting on the nest. On approaching the place, I observed 

 that she had collected a considerable quantity of grass and 

 weeds, and that she had put them all around the nest. 

 A week after this I went to watch her, and saw she had 

 hatched ; and, as I drew nearer to her, she went into the 

 water with the five little ones along with her." An inter- 

 esting account of Moor -hens moving their eggs to make 

 an addition to their nest, is thus related by Mr. Selby in 

 the printed Proceedings of the Berwickshire Naturalists' 

 Club : " During the early part of the summer of 1835, 

 a pair of Water-hens built their nest by the margin of the 

 ornamental pond at Bell's Hill, a piece of water of consi- 

 derable extent, and ordinarily fed by a spring from the 

 height above, but into which the contents of another large 

 pond can occasionally be admitted. This was done while 

 the female was sitting ; and as the nest had been built 

 when the water level stood low, the sudden influx of this 

 large body of water from the second pond caused a rise 

 of several inches, so as to threaten the speedy immersion 

 and consequent destruction of the eggs. This the birds 

 seem to have been aware of, and immediately took precau- 

 tions against so imminent a danger ; for when the gar- 

 dener, upon whose veracity I can safely rely, seeing the 

 sudden rise of the water, went to look after the nest, ex-; 

 pecting to find it covered and the eggs destroyed, or at 

 least forsaken by the hen, he observed, while at a distance, 

 both birds busily engaged about the brink where the nest 

 was placed ; and, when near enough, he clearly perceived 

 that they were adding, with all possible dispatch, fresh 

 materials to raise the fabric beyond the level of the in- 

 creased contents of the pond, and that the eggs had, by 

 some means, been removed from the nest by the birds, 



