THE WATEB-HEN. 269 



low, and often appear conspicuous ; the feet and legs 

 are olive green. In the female the colours are not so 

 bright, and the frontal shield does not cover so large 

 a space." The bill is compressed, but not very short ; 

 the wings are short and concave ; the legs long. The 

 nest is made of sticks and fibres, or dry reeds ; and 

 when the hen is within it, she is swinged to and fro 

 by the action of the water and wind underneath her : 

 we have seen the nest, however, disengaged by some 

 mishap, and floating in the midst of the stream. The 

 eggs are sharp at one end, and of whitish green 

 colour, spotted with red. The water-hen weighs from 

 fifteen ounces upwards. This is the Poule deau 

 ordinaire of Temminck. The gallinule is of some- 

 what dissimilar habits to those we have mentioned, 

 when found in the solitary Scottish moors untenanted 

 but by the feathered tribe and wild animals. Here 

 she is not so easily alarmed as where breeding in the 

 vicinity of gentlemen's mansions ; but when once dis- 

 turbed, has been known never again to resort to the 

 same locality, but at once seeks a new abode, where, 

 summer and winter, she will continue until destroyed 

 by the sportsman, or the more numerous enemies of 

 the brute creation, to whose invasion she is exposed 

 without any means of protection. The falcon, the kite, 

 the buzzard, the otter, are the most usual despoilers 

 of the water-hens. As they cannot fly far, they are 

 more defenceless than most other of the aquatic 

 birds. 



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