BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE 357 
stages young ducklings are much bullied and even eaten 
by this species. Poisoned eggs put out for Crows have 
frequently been found sucked by Moor-hens, but Mr J J 
Armistead writes from the Solway Fisheries that it " is 
often seen about the fish-ponds, and I cannot find it does 
any harm."* 
The nest is usuaUy built at the edge of some pond or 
loch, but occasionally in a tree growing over water ; and 
the species is, I believe, becoming more arboreal in its 
habits. Mr. R. Armstrong tells me that he once found a 
nest m a hawthorn bush fifteen feet from the ground 
buUt on an old nest of a Wood-Pigeon; and "Mabie Moss 
records one situated on the top of a yew-hedge in a garden t 
Two or even three broods are reared in the year, and it has 
been noticed that the young of the first brood assist in the 
teedmg of the second. 
In the colder months the Moor-hen commonly approaches 
the dweUmgs of man, frequenting the stackyards and farm- 
buildings m search of food. Richard BeU of Castle O'er 
mentions one which was so tame that it roosted every night 
m the kitchen of a shepherd's cottage.J In hard winters 
this species suffers greatly, as in the severe weather from 
JNovember, 1878, to March, 1879.§ 
W. G. Gibson writes in 1858 :— " A variety of the Moor- 
hen was shot in Dumfries district answering in every descrip- 
tion to one shot at Branford, near Ipswich, Suffolk, on 
December 16th, 1847."|| This English specimen is described 
m Morris History of British Birds as showing "all the plumage 
of hair^^^ ^'^^ ^^^^^ disunited, having the appearance 
On October 23rd, 1907, when shooting near Capenoch, one 
* Zoologist, 1888, p. 269. 
t Dumfries Courier and Herald, June 18th, 1889. 
X Trans. D. and O. Nat. Hist. Soc, April 17th, 1901. 
§ Op. cit., November 7th, 1879. 
II Naturalist, 1858, Vol. VIII., p. 117. 
II Morris' Hist. Brit. Birds, 1870, VoL V., p. 68. 
