Notes on a Waterhen's Nest. 4 1 



Afterwards Mr. John H. Davies read the following 

 NOTES ON A WATERHEN'S NEST. 



The brief remarks which I have to offer on some 

 circumstances attending the nest of a waterhen {Galinula 

 chlorapus) that came under my own observation, and which I 

 jotted down at the time, were shown to my friend Mr. John 

 Brown, who, considering that they were of some local interest, 

 expressed a desire that they should be recorded, and it is in 

 compliance with his request that I now read them. 



The nest was first noticed on the 6th of June, in a fir tree on 

 the bank of the Lagan, at Glenmore, near Lisburn. It 

 contained seven eggs, and was built almost at the end of a 

 branch, about five feet from the trunk, and fully seven feet 

 above the usual level of the water, over which the branch 

 extended. I have seen the nest of this bird in various queer 

 positions, on a branch of a sycamore resting on the ground, and 

 under a bramble bush, some thirty feet or more from the water, 

 but never before had I seen one so peculiarly situated as this. 

 It is known that where there is any likelihood of the water 

 rising and causing injury to the nest the instinctive forethought 

 of these birds is generally equal to the occasion ; but that such 

 a situation in this instance was chosen is the more remarkable, 

 as under no circumstances has the water been known to rise 

 higher than five feet from the branch on which the nest was 

 placed, and there is an island close by that is never flooded. 

 Since making note of this, I find that Mr. Morris, in his " Nests 

 and Eggs of British Birds," quotes a writer in the " Magazine 

 of Natural History" as making mention of a nest placed in a 

 fir tree twenty feet above the water, and who adds, " There was 

 a reason for it. The rising of the water in the pond frequently 

 flooded the banks of the island, and, as I had before noticed, 

 had destroyed several broods." 



Passing the nest nearly every day in my evening walks, I 

 had good opportunities of observing it. On the 21st I fright- 

 ened off the parent bird by incautiously approaching too near, 



