12 BLACK BIRDS. 



MOORHEN. — Plate 6. Length, 13 inches. 

 General colour dark brown above and dark gray 

 below, with the sides of the body streaked white, 

 and a white patch beneath the tail ; bill and a 

 bare bony plate on the forehead red, the bill yellow 

 at the tip ; legs greenish ; toes very long. Resident. 



Eggs. — 7-9, or more, pale buff, spotted and 

 blotched with reddish - brown ; 1"65 x 1'2 inch 

 (plate 122). 



Nest. — Of sedge, reed-flags, at times of dead leaves, 

 placed on the ground in swampy places or on branches 

 over water. 



Distribution. — General. 



The Moorhen is not, as its name might suggest, a 

 moor bird, but a fresh-water one, whether this be 

 in the form of pond, lake, or stream. When seen 

 swimming, nodding its head as it goes, it will remind 

 the observer of a small duck ; in its habit of diving, 

 too, it is duck-like, but when diving for safety it 

 will remain concealed beneath the water for an 

 indefinite time, holding itself down by the under- 

 water growth in the shallows, its bill alone being 

 held at the surface. When seen walking about the 

 banks in search of worms, &c., it looks like a small 

 common fowl ; but if the difierence in form be not 

 observed, the white tracts at the sides of the body 

 and beneath the short, cocked tail declare the Moor- 

 hen. It will mix with common fowls to feed in 

 quiet places. The large nest, sometimes built upon 

 marshy ground, is more often placed on a well-covered 

 branch projecting over water, and slightly above the 



