WATEE HEN, OR MOOR HEN. 237 



water for the purpose of respiration until he has 

 recovered, and then makes off. 



How well it can dive is evident from the fact that 

 one of these birds was caught in a net with which a 

 river was being dragged, and another was taken upon 

 a hook by Mr. Morris, who mentions that they have 

 been found upon night-lines set for fish. The first of 

 these birds was apparently dead, its feet clinging with 

 the death-grip to the meshes. It was relieved with 

 much difficulty, and laid on the ground, when it was 

 found that life was not extinct, but that the bird was 

 too weak to be able to stand. In the hope that it 

 might recover, it was placed among the flags on the 

 river bank, when it immediately sprang to its feet and 

 ran off into shelter, as if nothing had happened to it. 

 Similar examples of simulated death in the Water Hen 

 have been noticed by many observers. 



