236 Wild Life in a Southern County 



moving now and then just there the spot was not more 

 than fifteen yards distant. It was as if the beak of a bird, 

 the body and most of the head quite hidden and under 

 water, were picking or feeding among the duckweed. This 

 continued for some few minutes, when I shot at the spot, 

 and immediately a moorhen rose to the surface. As the 

 pond was very shallow the bird must have stood on the 

 bottom, and so resumed its feeding with the beak just 

 above the surface. 



