FIELD NOTES. 375 



and pecks at weeds. Half a dozen or so are browsing over the 

 meadow. Now the one upon the crumpled reeds nestles down 

 upon them, softly and mousily. 



Though the flirtation of the tail is very habitual with Moor- 

 hens, though nine times out of ten, when you see them either on 

 land or water, they are flirting it, still they do not always do so 

 — " Nonnunquam dormitat bonus Homerus." " Non semper 

 tendit arcum Apollo." One that I am watching is keeping his 

 quite still, and one may see, sometimes, many together, browsing 

 in this reposeful way. It can be a quiet, well-behaved tail enough, 

 but let any kind of emotion, almost, possess the owner, and, 

 heavens, how it flirts ! 



There is a Moorhen, now, preening and cleaning itself on the 

 margin of the stream. It fans out the primary quills of each 

 wing, whilst still keeping them pressed close to the sides, so that 

 the wings make a little house for the tail, inside which it is both 

 waggled and flirted, and so rubbed and polished by the quills. 

 At the same time the whole body of the bird is wriggled, and the 

 skin moves loosely upon it. The wings, too, now and again, 

 brush down each side of the body alternately, whilst the beak 

 keeps preening and making much of the feathers of the throat 

 and neck. 



There is a Snipe feeding with the Moorhens — that is to say, 

 one or other of them is often browsing near him. He thrusts 

 his long bill down amidst the muddy roots of grass-tufts in the 

 shallow water, then works it rapidly up and down, withdraws it, 

 seems to be enjoying something, thrusts it in again, and so on. 

 He walks slowly and sedately through the water, then, on the 

 grass, increases his pace, looking longer, lankier, and narrower 

 than before. Now there are two feeding vigorously, always in 

 the same way, the bill thrust down into the tufty, " patchily-in- 

 shallow-water-standing grass," withdrawn, sometimes immedi- 

 ately, sometimes after a few workings about with it, making so 

 many little nid-noddings of the head. The mandibles seem always 

 working against each other — opened slightly and again closed — 

 just like the Starlings ; and a, propos a Starling flies down now 

 and feeds side by side with these two Snipes, and in much the 

 same way, except that his head does not work up and down quite 

 so constantly and methodically. They — the two Snipes — seem 



