90 MOOE-HEtf. 



and run expertly also over the water-plants. It is pretty 

 to watch them picking out their steps along a railing, as 

 they may at times be seen to do, and still more so when 

 on the bending boughs of some small tree, which give way 

 beneath their weight, but on which they nevertheless keep 

 their hold and adroitly balance themselves, although their 

 feet are so ill-adapted, from their size, for such performances 

 that they can afford but very little comparative help. It is 

 curious also to see how cleverly they will thread their way 

 out from the middle of a thick bush, without any apparent 

 ruffling of their feathers. When walking, or swimming, they 

 frequently toss up their heads, and have a constant habit 

 of flirting the tail. The former motion is also constantly 

 practised when the bird is feeding on the water, as it pecks 

 first on one side and then on the other in succession. The 

 young, when only a very few days old, begin to forage for 

 themselves. They take to the water instinctively. 



The Eev. W. T. Bree, of Allesley Rectory, Warwickshire, 

 gives the following account in the 'Zoologist,' page 2801, of 

 the feigning of death by one of these birds, in a similar 

 manner to that already narrated of the Land-Kail. He says, 

 'Walking by the side of a mill-pond, I started a Water-Hen, 

 which rose out of the sedges close under my feet, and flying 

 not more than about thirty yards, settled in a wide ditch of 

 water, which formed part of the pool tail; on going directly 

 up to the spot, I saw a Water-Hen (the same, I conclude, 

 that I had just before flushed,) lying on the surface of the 

 water, in the middle of the ditch, perfectly motionless, and 

 with its head apparently under water, at least 1 could per- 

 ceive no portion of its head or neck. I stood viewing it for 

 some seconds, and took it for a dead bird; but on gently 

 stirring once or twice with a spud I had in my hand, it 

 began to move, and springing up flew into an adjoining osier- 

 bed. Was this bird feigning death as a means of security; 

 or why did it not take shelter among the flags which abounded 

 on either side of the ditch? 



A few years ago, I was present at the dragging of a river, 

 when a Water-Hen became entangled in the net and was 

 captured; it retained such fast hold with its long claws among 

 the meshes of the net, that it was with difficulty we could 

 release it, and some slight degree of force perhaps might have 

 been employed in the attempt. After the bird was extricated, 

 and laid upon the bare turf of the meadow, it appeared to 



