THE WHITE-BREASTED WATER-HEN 
trotting across well kept g-ardens, stealthily creeping along 
the depression at the side of the main roads (i.e. of course 
outside the town limits) and even sneaking through the grass 
on the hill at Fort Canning ! It is especially numerous in the 
inland districts for it does not like the immediate vicinity of 
the sea-coasts. In the Botanic Gardens where, as elsewhere 
on the island, it breeds, it is abundant. 
Field Notes;— This bird will almost invariably be seen on 
the ground. At the distance of a few yards it appears to be 
quite black and white with striking yellow legs. In most 
cases the wHy bird sees the observer first and meets the 
situation by turning his back, a tactical move which conceals 
the white breast. In Singapore, however, it is not a very 
shy bird and indeed in some instances quite confiding and if 
the observer remains still for a few minutes or cautiously walks 
round the bird in a circle it will no doubt commence to feed 
again and then the white breast is seen. Furthermore as the 
ayam-ayam feels at his ease, he will drop that sulking and 
crouching: poise which is at the same time an extremely alert 
attitude, and step daintily on his way. Then mark well the 
change in demeanour. The walk is slow and sedate, the feet 
lifted proudly off the ground and the tail raised so that the 
chestnut part of the plumage is displayed to advantage. And 
thus you must be content to watch him perhaps feeding at 
the other end of a lawn or on the opposite side of the lake 
in the Gardens, but any further familiarity on your part will 
send the bird running like a hare for the nearest cover. If 
you have adopted any deceitful method of getting up to the 
bird or surprise him by accident, he will perhaps take flight 
but will not go far, fluttering in a weak sort of manner a few 
yards from the ground, yellow legs trailing behind, and then 
seek shelter in the grass again. Sometimes when disturbed 
suddenly he will forego his usual habits and fly to a low tree 
where he looks strangely out of place trying to perch like a 
magpie-robin on a slender branch? The top end of the lake 
(near "the dell") in the Gardens is a good place to see this 
bird; more live in the rough ground in the Economic Gardens 
but they arc difficult to find there. 
[71] 
