18 , THE ZOOLOGIST. 



the birds might return, but they did not do so. I then returned 

 to the nest farther up stream, when I had the satisfaction of 

 seeing one of the old birds sitting; she left the nest on my 

 approach, but it contained neither eggs nor young. The following 

 evening this bird was again sitting ; the nest now contained one 

 newly-hatched Moor-hen, and both this and its parent scuttled 

 away on seeing me. In the nests first found three young birds 

 were in possession and were all asleep, one of them being in the 

 new nest, which was now completed. 



On July 7th I again visited these two nests, but a number of 

 people near had frightened the birds, and they were not to be 

 seen. A curious thing, however, was that another nest, similar 

 to the second one, had been built, the three forming a kind of 

 triangle. After this the birds were constantly seen to leave these 

 nests when I approached. On the same day I went to the nest 

 which on July 5th had contained one young bird. The little 

 black Moor-hen was still there, and its parent had left before I 

 arrived. I heard her on the other side of the stream, however, 

 calling to the young bird to follow, which it did with charac- 

 teristic alacrity. This nest had had much material added since 

 I last saw it, and was consequently rather high above water ; it 

 was chieiiy composed of fine dry grasses. On the two following 

 evenings the nest became visibly smaller, and careful observation 

 proved that the Moor-hens were moving it piece by piece to the 

 other side of the stream, where the situation was more sheltered. 

 The nest in which the young were hatched was a few yards from 

 this roosting-nest, being built in a bush about ten feet above 

 water-level. I watched the Moor-hens very closely to see whether 

 they would make another nest when the young were hatched, with 

 the result as described. The other three roosting-nests, built 

 close together, were about twenty-five yards from the one which 

 was used for incubation purposes. 



In the spring of 1898 a nest was built beneath the roots of a 

 tree on the stream-side; it contained eight eggs, and incubation 

 lasted three weeks. Immediately the young were hatched a 

 sleeping-nest was made about three yards from the first, in 

 the middle of the stream, supported by a submerged tree. The 

 original was afterwards deserted, and this one alone used. As 

 the young grew, however, another was built, evidently because 



