A THOUGHTFUL BUILDER. 
185 
Instances of unusual foresight in the mode of constructing a nest, 
or in the choice of its situation, are related in most books of natural 
history, and they might be much multiplied ; but the following, by 
Rusticus of Godalming, taken from ' Loudon's Magazine,' is sufficient 
to show how decidedly mind presides over the proceeding: — The 
piece of water called Old Pond, about one mile from Godalming, on the 
London Road, is a most attractive spot to water-fowl ; and an island 
in the centre is the resort of some of them in the breeding season, and 
also a variety of other birds, which find it a safe and unmolested 
place for the same purpose. One day, having pushed off from the 
shore, and moored the little shallop to some of the osiers which sur- 
rounded the island, I began my usual examination. The first object 
that attracted my attention was a lot of dry rushes, flags, reeds, &;c., 
enough to fill a couple of bushel-baskets. This mass was lodged 
about twenty feet from the ground in a spruce fir-tree, and looked 
for aU the world as if it had been pitclied there with a hay -fork. I 
mounted instantly, thinking of Herons, Eagles, and a variety of other 
wonders. Just as my head reached the nest, ' flap ! flap ! ' and out 
came a Moor-hen ; and dropping to the water, made off in a 
direct line along the surface, and was lost in the rushes of a dis- 
tant bank. The nest contained seven eggs, warm as a toast. The 
situation was a very odd one for a Moor-hen's nest ; but there was 
a reason for it : the rising of the water in the pond frequently flooded 
the banks of the island, and, as I had before witnessed, had de- 
stroyed several broods by immersion. 
An interesting account of Moor-hens moving their eggs 
to make an addition to their nest when the rising of the 
water by which it was situated rendered this necessary, is 
related by Selby in the printed proceedings of the Berwick- 
shire Naturalists' Club. In this instance the birds removed 
the eggs to a safe place until the necessary addition to the 
nest was made, and then replaced them : how they effected 
this was not ascertained. That this bird is not easily 
frightened from the performance of her maternal duties, 
we may learn from the following anecdote by Waterton : — 
In 1826, I was helping a man to stub some large willows near the 
water's edge. There was a Water-hen's nest at the root of one of 
them. It had seven eggs in it. I broke two of them, and saw they 
contained embryo chickens. The labom'er took up part of the nest, 
with the remaining five eggs in it, and placed it on the ground, about 
three yards from the spot where we found it. We continued in the 
same place for some hours afterwards, working at the willows. In the 
evening, when we went away, the old Water-hen came back to her 
nest. Having no more occasion for the labourer in that place, I took 
