RALLHXE. 449 



a stoat upon a Moorhen in the ' Zoologist' for 1864, 

 in which the Moorhen, after a very short chase, 

 during which it never took to the wing at all, but 

 only hid its head in some thick grass, was killed by 

 the stoat. 



On one occasion I witnessed a very interesting 

 proceeding on the part of a Moorhen in taking care 

 of its young and reviving them when exhausted. 

 The mother had led her whole brood into a small 

 pond, from which they could not get out : after a 

 considerable chase I rescued the young ones with a 

 landing-net, but they were almost exhausted from 

 constantly diving to escape being caught. The first 

 I caught I put out on the lawn close to another pond ; 

 it was so beat it could not run or walk. While I was 

 catching the others the mother came up and tried to 

 get the young one away, but finding that impossible 

 she immediately sat down and hovered it. The next 

 two I caught were not so exhausted, so the mother 

 unceremoniously kicked them into the pond, where 

 the old male soon came to them and led them off. 

 The last was exhausted like the first : I put it down 

 near where the old bird was hovering the first; she 

 was then in great difficulties, as she could not get 

 them together to hover both at once, which she tried 

 hard to do ; but at last she went back to the first, 

 which was certainly getting stronger, and hovered 

 that till it was sufficiently recovered to be pushed 

 into the pond like the two others ; and when I left 



2 Q 3 



