THE MOORHEN AND COOT. 



Where Coots in rushy dingles hide, 

 And Moorhens shun the day. 



THE shy and retiring Moorhen's home is amongst 

 the reeds and dank vegetation by the water-side. You 

 get an occasional glimpse of them on the banks of 

 weedy pools of stagnant water, or in the reedy branches 

 of canals and drains. A favourite place, too, is in the 

 tangled marshy bed of old watercourses, and on the little 

 islands that often stud fishponds and lakes. Sometimes 

 we see them swimming with peculiar bobbing motion 

 of the head amongst the reeds and water-flags, or at 

 other times walking gracefully about the banks, picking 

 up their food, and incessantly jerking their tail. Or not 

 unfrequently you see many of the birds perched amongst 



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