THE COMMON WATERHEN. 
329 
but the young birds^ nevertheless, issued from all the eggs a 
fortnight afterwards. Mr. R. Davis, jun., has seen the nest of 
this species placed on the water, after the manner of the coots ; — 
supported by rushes far out from the shore. 
The waterhen breeds twice, perhaps thrice in the season : — 
notes are before me of seven eggs being in a nest in the middle 
of April ; nine on the 9th of J une ; and a young bird not more 
than a day old appearing on the 18th of August, — all, it was 
believed, the produce of one pair at the Wolfhill pond. Mr. 
Poole mentions, from his own observation, an instance of a water- 
hen laying her eggs in the deserted nest of a magpie, situated in 
a tree about twenty-five feet above the ground in the immediate 
vicinity of a river. 
This species dives well, and feeds when so doing, as has 
been proved by Mr. Selby, who has several times known it to 
be taken by a line baited with an earthworm for catching eels and 
trout,^^ p. 189. The stomachs of four examined by me in winter 
and spring contained in addition to sand or gravel, vegetable food 
only, as grasses, rushes, seeds, &c. 
The waterhen has a singular habit of remaining with the body 
under water, and the bill and forehead only exposed to view, 
at which time the bird will not stir, though closely pressed. It 
has also a habit which I do not remember to have seen noticed by 
authors ; that of flying very much by night, particularly by moon- 
light. Its note, uttered while on wing, I have heard at a 
considerable distance from any water as the bird passed over- 
head, thus denoting that at such times it goes far from its daily 
haunts. 
The waterhens about the river Lagan near Belfast are often 
very attractive to the pedestrian on its banks. When walking there 
opposite Belvoir Park, about four o^ clock on the 27th of December, 
1839, it was highly interesting to observe numbers of them which 
had crossed the river to feed about the canal track-line, return to 
their places of conceahuent on the opposite side. This was owing 
to the water being quite still and in deep shadow (the after- 
noon was frosty and very light for the season), while each bird 
