THE WATER-HEN 



197 



taking the ruff, seems to be most advantage- 

 ous ; and it may not be amiss to describe it. 

 The Ruff, which is the name of the male, the 

 Reeve that of the female, is taken in nets 

 about forty yards long, and seven or eight 

 feet high. These birds are chiefly found in 

 Lincolnshire and the Isle of Ely, where they 

 come about the latter end of April, and dis- 

 appear about Michaelmas. The male of this 

 bird, which is known from all others of the 

 kind by the great length of the feathers round 

 his neck, is yet so various in his plumage, 

 that it is said, no two ruffs were ever seen 

 totally of the same colour. The nets in 

 which these are taken, are supported by 

 sticks, at an angle of near forty-five degrees, 

 and placed either on dry ground, or in very 

 shallow water, not remote from reeds : among 

 these the fowler conceals himself, till the 

 birds, enticed by a stale or stuffed bird, come 

 under the nets; he then, by pulling a string, 

 lets them fall, and they are taken ; as are 

 godwits, knots, and gray plovers, also in the 

 same manner. When these birds are brought 

 from under the net, they are not killed imme- 

 diately, but fattened for the table, with bread 

 and milk, hemp-seed and sometimes boiled 

 wheat; but if expedition be wanted, sugar is 

 added, which will make them a lump of fat 

 in a fortnight's time. They are kept, as ob- 

 served before, in a dark room ; and judgment 

 is required in taking the proper time for kill- 

 ing them, when they are at the highest pitch 

 of fatness: for if that is neglected, the birds 

 are apt to fall away. They are reckoned a 

 very great delicacy ; they sell for two shil- 

 lings, or half-a-crown, a piece ; and are served 

 up to the table with the train, like woodcocks, 

 where we will leave them. 



CHAP. XI. 



OF THE WATER-HEN, AND THE COOT. 1 



BEFORE we enter upon water-fowls, pro- 

 perly so called, two 'or three birds claim our 



1 As bearing some affinity to this genus of birds, we 

 may here notice the Rails, so called from the rattling 

 sound of their cry. These birds, which remain during 

 the day concealed in the grass, seek their food morning 

 and evening in the reeds and plants of marshes and 

 meadows. They fly very far, and walk with great 

 agility. They never join in families and flocks. They 

 raise their neck like hens when they are disturbed, and 

 the young quit the nest immediately after birth, and 

 seize of their own accord the food which is indicated to 

 them by the mother. To the Land-rail or Corn-crake, 

 these remarks are not perhaps applicable in all respects. 



The Water-rail runs along stagnant waters as fast as 

 the corn-crake does over the fields. Sometimes, instead 

 of traversing the water by swimming, it sustains itself 



attention, which seem to form the shade be- 

 tween the web-footed tribe and those of the 

 crane kind. These partake rather of the form 

 than the habits of the crane ; alid though 

 furnished with long legs and necks, rather 

 swim than wade. They cannot properly be 

 called web-footed ; nor yet are they entirely 

 destitute of membranes, which fringe their 

 toes on each side, and adapt them for swim- 

 ming. The birds in question are, the Water- 

 Hen and the Bald- Coot. 



These birds have too near an affinity, not 

 to^be ranked in the same description. They 

 are shaped entirely alike, their legs are long, 

 and their thighs partly bare ; their necks are 

 proportionable, their wings~short, their bills 

 short and weak, their colour black, their 

 foreheads bald and without feathers, and their 

 habits entirely the same. These, however, 

 naturalists have thought proper to range in 

 different classes, from very slight distinctions 

 in their figure. The water-hen weighs but 

 fifteen ounces ; the coot twenty-four. The 

 bald part of the forehead in the coot is black ; 

 in the water-hen it is of a beautiful pink 

 colour. The toes of the water-hen are edged 

 with a straight membrane ; those of the coot 

 have it scolloped and broader. 



The differences in the figure are but 

 slight ; and those in their manner of living 

 still less. The history of the one will serve 

 for both. As birds of the crane kind are fur- 

 nished with long wings, and easily change 

 place, the water-hen, whose wings are short, 



on the broad leaves of aquatic plants. Its food consists 

 of insects, snails, and shrimps. It makes its nest in 

 the midst of plants, by the side of ponds and streams, 

 and the female lays from six to ten yellowish eggs, 

 marked with spots of reddish-brown. The flesh of this 

 bird has a marshy taste, but is, notwithstanding, in some 

 estimation. 



The Land-rail, or Corn-crake, is in the genus Galli- 

 nule of Latham. In the more southern countries this 



is a bird of passage. It arrives among us and in France 

 abont April or May, and disappears in the commence- 

 ment of October. By its short and sharp cry, crik, crik, 

 we recognize its return. On approaching the qnarter 

 whence this cry proceeds, the sound is not discontinued, 

 but heard a little farther on, which is occasioned by the 

 bird, which can fly away but with difficulty, running 

 with extreme swiftness through the tufted grass. In 

 consequence of the coincidence between the return and 

 departure of the quails and this bird, the latter has been 

 sometimes deemed the conductor of the former. These 

 birds are insectivorous when young, but the adult add 

 grains, &c. of various kinds to this aliment. 



