380 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



was, but I had mistaken hini for a piece of horse-dung. I beg 

 his pardon. I see this bird feeding, quite plainly, both in the 

 meadow, a little way from the stream, and just off the bank, 

 wading in the water. He searches the ground with his long 

 bill, as before described, and keeps working the two mandibles 

 together. As a rule they do not open much, which suggests that 

 he gets small things only — but once they do, rather more, and I 

 see the cleft between them all the way up. No doubt but the 

 Snipe's bill is an instrument of high efficiency. What strikes 

 me, however, is that the Starling seems to do just as well 

 with his. 



Now comes another most remarkable sound, uttered by a 

 Snipe, but not by this one. It is hoarse and cat-like, and is 

 repeated twenty-six times (!) close together, at the very least — 

 then continues, again, after a little pause. I could never have 

 imagined — at least could never have been prepared for — such a 

 sound as this. Unfortunately, I could not actually see the 

 bird uttering it, as he had just walked behind one of the clumps 

 of alders. These bird-cries are most remarkable. An instru- 

 ment that would accurately reproduce those of the Moorhen, 

 Snipe, and Dabchick would make a sensation in any drawing- 

 room, and a fortune on the Aquarium stage. 



A Moorhen is now taking a bath — not afloat like a Duck, 

 but standing just off the bank, where the water is not above 

 a few inches deep. She ducks her head, then, jerking it up, 

 lets the water run down her neck, and over her back, flirting it 

 about with her wings and tail. At the end of the bath she 

 gives both her wings a violent shake above her back, lasting for 

 some seconds, and then proceeds to preen herself carefully — a 

 pretty toilette scene, as pretty as " Gipsy toilette," that very 

 pretty picture. A characteristic action and attitude is the one 

 wing extended and pointed backwards towards the ground, the 

 corresponding leg being similarly extended and raised against it, 

 suggesting that the claws are passed down the primary quills, 

 as being out of comfortable reach of the beak, but whether 

 this is really the case I am not quite sure. This bird walked 

 from some way off, in the meadow, straight to the bank, evi- 

 dently with the purpose of taking a bath in her mind, and now, 

 having carried it out, she walks back, and continues to browse. 



