184 BALLID^E 



leaves, small sticks, and even bits of paper : such nests 

 I have examined on ornamental ponds. Well ambushed, 

 and with the aid of a field-glass, I have watched Water- 

 hens quit and return to their nest both before and after 

 the young were hatched, and though I have seen them 

 pluck the green leaves off trees and carry them to their 

 nests, I have not as yet detected them covering either 

 eggs or nestlings with such foliage. As far as I could 

 observe the leaves were used to replace part of the lining 

 of the nest, which in wet situations soon becomes sodden 

 and uncomfortable from decomposition of the subjacent 

 foundation. The eggs, seven to nine in number, are light 

 buff, shading to warmer stone-colour, spotted with reddish- 

 brown. 



Incubation sometimes begins as early as the end of 

 March, and during the breeding-season several broods are 

 brought forth. 1 



Geographical distribution. Abroad, this species breeds 

 throughout the greater part of Europe, except in the higher 

 northern countries, also over the Asiatic and North African 

 Continents and adjacent Islands. 



DESCRIPTIVE CHARACTERS. 



PLUMAGE. Adult male nuptial. Head, neck, and breast, 

 dark greyish-black ; abdomen, lighter grey ; a few large 

 white streaks on the flanks; back and wings, dark olive- 

 brown; middle under tail-coverts, black; rest of under 

 tail-coverts, white. 



Adult female nuptial. Similar to the male plumage, but 

 the white streaks on the flanks are narrower. 



Adult winter, male and female. Similar to the nuptial 

 plumage. 



Immature, male and female. Back and wings, greyish- 

 brown ; breast and abdomen, ash-grey ; throat, whitish. 



1 On the ornamental waters of Weston Park, Sheffield, a Water-hen 

 hatched out a brood as late as the last week in August, 1904. The nest 

 was built on a clump of holly branches secured in the middle of the pond. 

 It was most interesting to watch how, in the absence of the parents, 

 one of the fully-fledged immature birds of an earlier brood would enter 

 the nest and view with tender curiosity its baby brothers and sisters. 

 Sometimes this bird would quit the nest before the return of one or both 

 parents, but even when it remained there its presence was never objected 

 to. In fact, at one time, I noted a united family consisting of both 

 parents, a fully-grown immature bird and a brood of nestlings in the 

 nest and two other immature birds swimming round it. 



