MOOR-HEK. 91 



be nearly dead, and was unable to stand. Some means were 

 resorted to in way of cherishing, in the hope of restoring 

 animation, but all apparently to no purpose. As life however 

 was not quite extinct, and with a view to give the bird a 

 chance, it was placed among the flags on the margin of the 

 river, when, to our surprise, it immediately roused itself up, 

 and ran away into closer shelter as brisk as if nothing had 

 happened to it. Are we to suppose that in either or both 

 these instances the Water-Hen feigned death for the sake of 

 defence? In the latter instance it may possibly be urged 

 that the bird had been so terrified as to have been almost 

 frightened to death; but in the former, no further alarm had 

 been given to the Water- Hen except what was occasioned by 

 my having accidentally intruded upon its haunts.' 



They feed severally in the morning or the evening, on the 

 water or the land, on water-insects, larvae, slugs, worms, 

 grasshoppers, grain, small mollusks, seeds, grasses, water-cresses, 

 and other plants, the latter being of especial service in hard 

 weather, when they are frozen out from their other and 

 ordinary sources; but even with this provision they appear 

 weak and languid in very hard winters, whether from the 

 severity of the cold, or the failure of a sufficient amount of 

 their more proper food. H. T. Partridge, Esq., of Hockham 

 Hall, near Thetford, Norfolk, relates the following curious 

 fact in the 'Zoologist,' page 4255: 'At the beginning of 

 July, the keeper having lost several Pheasants about three 

 weeks old, from a copse, and having set traps in vain for 

 winged and four-footed vermin, determined to keep watch for 

 the aggressor, when, after some time, a Moor-Hen was seen 

 walking about near the copse; the keeper, supposing that it 

 only came to eat the young Pheasants' food, did not shoot 

 it until he saw the Moor-Hen strike a Pheasant, which it 

 killed immediately, and devoured all the young bird except 

 the leg and wing bones. The remains agreed exactly with 

 those of eight found before. Perfect confidence may be placed 

 in the correctness of this statement.' They wander at times 

 into stubble fields, in the neighbourhood of their usual haunts, 

 in search of food, or even venture into the farmer's stack- 

 yard. 



The note is a mere cry or sort of chirping call, moderately 

 loud. 



The nest, which is large, is strongly put together, though 

 only of rough workmanship, and is commonly found "well 



