THE MOOR-HEN 163 



feet away from the second one. On my visiting 

 these one evening, the hen was comfortably seated 

 on the largest nest with her head tucked under 

 her wing. I could not help being struck with her 

 apparent large size, but when suddenly she awoke, 

 and looking round spied an intruder, this motherly 

 bird quickly rose followed by three nearly full- 

 grown young Moor-hens which she had been 

 covering. This of course accounted for her 

 seeming large dimensions ; but how all four 

 managed to squeeze into the available space I 

 could not understand. The next day I went 

 again to the tunnel, and, approaching quietly, had 

 the satisfaction of seeing the young Moor-hens in 

 their quarters, but could not tell how many there 

 were of them, as all hurried away in various direc- 

 tions the moment I approached. Four days later 

 I was surprised to see still another nest provided, 

 and which I quite believe the young Moor-hens 

 must have built for themselves, evidently finding 

 that, as they grew bigger, the accommodation their 

 parents had given them did not grow in similar 

 proportion to themselves. As far as my personal 

 observation goes, it seems that all Moor-hens build 

 additional nests for their young to roost in ; or 

 otherwise, that the young birds build on their own 

 account, I have seen this similar habit mentioned 



