Moorhen. 445 



birds were encouraged and protected, I have seen the Moorhens 

 feeding just beneath the drawing-room windows, and not caring 

 to move nearer the water, even when a stranger approached. At 

 Bowood they show great boldness, and at Draycot pond, where 

 they are not molested, they evince none of that timidity for 

 which the race of Kails is renowned. Where, however, they are 

 not so protected, and are surprised in an open space, they will 

 skim along the surface of the water, dipping with their toes as 

 they hurry along ; partly flying, partly running, legs as well as 

 wings being actively employed, till they have retreated into 

 thick cover. But though their flight for a short distance, with 

 legs hanging down, seems heavy and awkward, they can, and do 

 on occasion, indulge in a prolonged flight with apparent ease : 

 they can also perch in a bush or on a low- tree. They are 

 conspicuous for the bright scarlet frontal plate or horny shield 

 which extends above the beak, and as they swim over the pond, 

 with a nodding motion of the head, examining every weed on 

 either side, or as they hurry through the meadows, in both 

 cases perpetually jerking up their tails, they always seem in a 

 bustle, and as if they had no time to waste. 



The specific name, chloropus, ' green- footed/ is most applicable : 

 so in Sweden it is Gron-fotad Sump-Hona, or ' Green- footed 

 Fen-Hen'; but with us the 'Common Gallinule,' ' Water-Hen/ 

 and ' Marsh-Hen,' and used in old time to be 'Mot-hen,' meaning 

 'Moat-hen/ for (says Pennant) in the days of moated houses 

 they were very frequent about the moats. In France it is Poule 

 d'eau ordinaire; in Spain, Polla de agua; in Portugal, Gallinha 

 de agua; in Germany, Grunfussiges Eohrhuhn; and in Italy, 

 Pullo sultano cimandorlo. 



171. CAYENNE RAIL (Aramides Cayannensis). 



Though denied a place in the British list by those in authority, 

 and ignominiously denounced as an escaped convict from some 

 zoological garden or other place of detention, to which it had been 

 transported from its native land, I cannot pass over in silence 

 this interesting stranger, which was killed in October, 1876, on 



