222 



THE ANGLER'S SOUVENIR. 



water-hen 1 is to be seen making its way through the 

 weeds, or swimming across the tiny bays, jerking 

 its head and making as much fuss as if it were 

 swimming twice as fast as it really is doing. It 

 gives life and motion to many a lake that would 

 otherwise be dull and drear, and its appearance in 

 every small rushy pond adds great interest to the 

 country ramble. The nest of the water-hen is one 

 of the earliest prizes to the bird-nesting schoolboy. 

 The large, shallow structure, made of dry flags and 

 water-plants, is generally placed amid the rushes or 

 reeds on the margin of a pool, and is conspicuous 

 enough, but the bird sometimes departs from its 

 usual habits, and builds its nest above the water. 

 We have found one in the crown of an old pollard 

 willow, which slanted over a pool. Though, usually, 

 water-hens live entirely among the coarse herbage 

 by the waterside, and in the water itself, in severe 

 weather, when they are frozen out of their ordinary 

 haunts, thay will perch in trees, notwithstanding 

 their webbed feet. We have seen more than a dozen 

 in a small fir-tree by a pool's side. In such weather, 

 too, they will crowd to any spot which is unfrozen 

 in great numbers. While out shooting once we 

 came to a reach of the river Yyrnwy, which was 

 completely frozen over, except a small spot around 

 a willow bush which had fallen into the stream 

 Noticing a peculiar motion of the water about this 

 spot, we went up to the bush, and lo ! at least a 

 score of water-hens flew out. The flurry and con- 



