160 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



towards the friendly reeds which skirt its edge. Here it will be difficult to flush the birds without 

 the aid of a dog, but carefully proceeding along the margin of the rushes, the naturalist will probably 

 be gratified by the " sough " of a body falling into the water, and will find, close by, the nest, 

 raised a little above the water, and concealed from the bank by a mass of intervening reeds. Many 

 yards off the bird will itself emerge and betake itself, with flapping wings, and legs hanging down, 

 to the opposite side of the lake, although we have known the hen bird, if the eggs are hard-set or the 

 young newly-hatched, to stay in the vicinity of the nest and croak as if in anger, or more probably in 

 the latter case to encourage the young birds with her presence. The nest is large and rather flat, 

 composed of dead rushes, and perfectly warm and dry, the chicks when hatched being merely tiny balls 

 of black down with pretty little red heads. They utter a " cheeping " note, which may be often heard 

 inside the egg, before the little one has broken through the shell. We have more than once watched 

 the process of hatching, and seen the egg with a small hole chipped in it, through which the tiny bill, 

 with a little ivory white nail at the tip, is trying to force its way out. It is possible that at this stage 

 the old bird assists the chick to break the shell and extricate itself, as on one occasion, when we broke 

 the egg very carefully, and deposited the young one in the nest, it died soon after. Should the old 

 mother be sitting on the nest with her young ones, she drops gently off", and all the little ones scramble 

 <nit helter-skelter, and so carefully do they conceal themselves, that it is almost hopeless to find them. 

 The nest is often situated in more exposed positions than the one above described, and may bs 

 found placed on the water-line in the branches of some overhanging shrub or tree whose boughs 

 touch the water, but always at some distance from the bank, so that a boat is generally necessary 

 to procure the eggs. The latter are from seven to ten or eleven in number, two broods being 

 generally reared in a season, and the number of eggs is less in the second than in the first 

 brood. When swimming the Moor-hen jerks its head as if to keep time with the motion of 

 its legs, which are generally somewhat out of the water, so as to show the tarsal joints, 

 which are red and yellow, shading off into green; and these colours, and its red frontal shield, 

 are the only ornaments about the bird, if we except the two white patches on each side of 

 the tail. The latter is usually carried somewhat erect and with a jerking motion, the bird, 

 as it walks or swims, flicking the latter organ in unison with the movements of its head and legs. 

 When frightened, Moor-hens, especially young birds, often take refuge in trees, and run with con- 

 siderable rapidity along the branches. The bird is, as a rule, tabooed by keepers, who assert that they 

 are not above visiting pheasantries and carrying off young chickens, whom they despatch with a blow 

 of their powerful bill on the head of their victim ; nor can they refrain from stealing eggs when these 

 are left unprotected, sharing in this respect the odium which attaches to their relations, the Coots. 



The Moor-hens are found nearly all over the world, and the British species is distributed over 

 Europe, Asia, and Africa, a smaller kind taking its place in the Malayan Islands and extending 



to Australia. In America Moor-hens are found almost every- 

 whei'e, while in the Samoan Islands a curious species exists, 

 the Pareudiastes paciftcus, which is said not to be able to fly. 



THE FOURTH SUB-FAMILY OF THE EALLID.E. 

 THE COOTS (Fuliclna;}. 



In appearance and habits much resembling Moor-hens, 

 the Coots are nevertheless a distinct sub-family, distinguished 

 by their lobed toes, which are best understood from a glance at 

 the accompanying woodcut. They have also a larger frontal 

 shield, which in certain of the American species may be really 

 called enormous. Coots are found everywhere, but the South 

 American region possesses the larger number of species, no less 

 FOOT OF COOT. tnan seven being met with in the Neotropical area. Like the 



Moor-hens the Coots affect the water, but seem to prefer more 



exclusively large ponds and lakes, and are not to be found by the river side, where the Moor-hen 

 can always be seen. The Coot also assembles in greater numbers than, the Moor-hen, large flocks 

 being often seen in the winter on some of the tidal harbours of the south coast of England. 



