Birds by Land and Sea 



scamper into a bed of nettles beyond. Upon 

 looking round, I found that, although the reed tuft 

 indicated by its decayed centre the site where the 

 nest had been, the whole of the materials to the last 

 leaf had been transferred to form a second nest 

 under some overhanging dead branches four yards 

 from the original one. At a similar distance in 

 another direction a third nest had been roughly 

 constructed of similar materials, with the addition of 

 a few flags and reeds. At my next visit on the nth 

 of July the second nest under the overhanging 

 branches had been partly demolished, and nest 

 number three had been built up so as now to form 

 what appeared to be the principal one ; whilst, some 

 five or six yards farther on, another rough nest had 

 been built similar to the previous ones, this being 

 the fourth of the series. 



When building over water, the moorhen as a 

 rule places its nest upon strong branches, so as to 

 be just above or touching the surface, but some- 

 times she aspires to higher things, and I have a 

 picture which shows a moorhen's nest built in a 

 large tree at a height of about six feet above the 

 surface of a lake. When I first discovered it, the 

 hen was sitting with head lowered, and her bright 

 red bill averted, as if conscious of its conspicuous 

 colouring. Owing to this, I had to pass twice before 

 I could be sure that she was there at all ; then she 

 became nervous, and flew down with great outcry, 

 dashing and splashing along the lake below. 



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