92 MOOE-HEN. 



concealed among- reeds, long grass, or the roots of trees, just 

 above the water's edge, on the margin of a stream or by a 

 bank. One has been known as much as three feet above the 

 surface, on the stump of a tree, even on the lower branches 

 of a fir, or in a thorn bush at that elevation. The Rev. 

 Leonard Jenyns has recorded an instance in which it was con- 

 structed among the ivy encircling a large elm, which hung 

 over the water's edge, at the height of at least ten feet from 

 the ground. A writer in the 'Magazine of Natural History* 

 mentions another placed in a fir tree twenty feet above the 

 water. He says 'there was a reason for it, the rising of the 

 water in the pond frequently flooded the banks of the island, 

 and, as I had before witnessed, had destroyed several broods.' 

 One was built upon the branches of a willow overhanging 

 the lake at Castle Howard, at a height of four or five feet 

 above the water. 



The nest has been known quite unattached to any fixture, 

 though surrounded by loose sticks, and thus at the mercy of 

 the winds and waves. The birds have been observed both to 

 hatch their eggs after being removed in part of the nest to 

 another place, and also themselves to remove them, when 

 threatened with destruction by the rising of the water, fresh 

 materials being in each case brought together. J. H. Grurney, 

 Esq. and W. R. Fisher, Esq. have recorded an instance in which 

 they knew the nest of a Moor-Hen placed in a fir plantation 

 at a distance of a quarter of a mile from any water. I have 

 seen one myself placed at some height over the water on a 

 fallen branch of a tree, which formed a natural bridge over 

 a river. 



The Rev. J. C. Atkinson, writing in the 'Zoologist,' page 

 767, observes of the Moor-Hen, that it 'occasionally at least, 

 builds a second nest, to accommodate a moiety of its young, 

 when they have attained a size too large to permit the original 

 one to contain them all; and when the colony is sent to 

 the second nest, one of the old birds accompanies it. An 

 instance of this habit occurred in the vicinity of my father's 

 residence, when I was last at home. The female Moor-Hen 

 was the architect, and the subsidiary nest she busied herself 

 in constructing was built on a bough overhanging the water. 

 The weight of the structure at last became too great for the 

 bough to bear; it gave way and the nest was destroyed by 

 its own weight, which caused it to fall to pieces when it lost 

 its horizontal position. , The old bird seemed to be much 



