Birds. 2801 



procure, amongst a number of the common snipe, a specimen which may, perhaps, 

 with other evidence, prove that the length or shortness of the tail-feathers, cannot, per 

 se, be considered as a sufficient character of the species Brehmi. In my specimen, 

 which I believe is only a Scolopax gallinago, the tail-feathers are of the usual num- 

 ber, fourteen ; on one side of the tail the outer-feather is considerably longer than the 

 second and third, and nearly as long as the fourth ; whilst on the other side the outer 

 feather is shorter than the second. The bird is in full plumage, with no signs of 

 moulting. — Edmund Thomas Hig gins ; Edinburgh, March 15th, 1850. 



Habits of the Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus). — Mr. Evans's remarks on some of 

 the habits of the waterhen (Zool. 2704), many of which I can, from my own expe- 

 rience confirm, call to mind a circumstance relating to this bird, which I witnessed in 

 the early part of last winter. Walking by the side of a mill-pond, I started a water- 

 hen which rose out of the sedges close under my feet, and flying not more than about 

 thirty yards, settled in a wide ditch of water, which formed part of the pool-tail ; on 

 going directly up to the spot, I saw a waterhen (the same, I conclude, that I had just 

 before flushed) lying on the surface of the water in the middle of the ditch, perfectly 

 motionless, and with its head apparently under water, at least I could perceive no por- 

 tion of its head or neck ; I stood viewing it for some seconds, and took it for a dead 

 bird ; but on my gently stirring it once or twice with a spud I had in my hand, it 

 began to move, and springing up flew into an adjoining osier-bed. Was this bird 

 feigning death as a means of security ? — or why did it not take shelter among the flags 

 and Carices which abounded on either side of the ditch ? A few years ago I was pre- 

 sent at dragging of a river, when a waterhen became entangled in the net and was 

 captured ; it retained such fast hold with its long claws among the meshes of the net, 

 that it was with difficulty we could release it, and some slight degree of force, perhaps, 

 might have been employed in the attempt. After the bird was extricated, and laid 

 upon the bare turf of the meadow, it appeared to be nearly dead and was unable to 

 stand. Some means were resorted to, in the way of cherishing, in the hope of restor- 

 ing animation, but all apparently to no purpose ; as life, however, was not quite ex- 

 tinct, and with a view to give the bird a chance, it was placed among the flags on the 

 margin of the river, when, to our surprise, it immediately roused itself up and ran 

 away into closer shelter, as brisk as if nothing had happened to it. Are we to suppose 

 that in either or in both these instances the waterhen feigned death for the sake of de- 

 fence ? In the latter instance, it may possibly be urged, that the bird had been so ter- 

 rified as to have been almost frightened to death ; but in the former, no further alarm 

 had been given to the waterhen, except what was occasioned by my having accidentally 

 intruded upon its haunts. — W. T. Bree ; Allesley Rectory, April 2, 1850. 



Enquiry respecting the Nest of the Flamingo. — Can you or any of the readers of 

 the ' Zoologist ' give me any information as to what shaped nest the flamingo makes ? 

 According to some authors its nest is of mud, conical, with a small depression at the 

 top where the eggs are deposited, and of a sufficient height that when the bird sits 

 astride on it, its feet just touch the ground. Now, is this really true ? For why 

 should the flamingo build such a nest, when other long-legged birds can sit in their 

 nests with as much comfort as short-legged birds ; for (as Waterton says), the thighs 

 of birds are of a length proportionate to their legs, so that by bending the knee, the 

 legs recede sufficiently towards the tail to allow the feet to come to the centre of the 

 body. I have seen a flamingo sitting bathing itself in a pan of water, in the position 



