XIV 
INTRODUCTION. 
death of a chick from a blow of its pointed bill, a considerable portion of the vietlm being afterwards eaten. 
No one who has lived nincb on the Thames, or other localities frequented by this bird, can have failed to be 
struck by the fury and boldness with which it will attack a rat, a duck, or even so large a bird as a swan, 
if it approaches its nest. 
“At the beginning of July,” says H. J. Partridge, Esq., of Hockbam Hall, near Thetford, In Norfolk, 
“ the keeper liaving lost several Pheasants about three weeks old from a copse, and having' set traps in vain 
for winged and four-footed vermin, determined to keep watch for the aggressor, when, after some time, 
a Moorhen was seen walking about near the copse. The keeper, supposing it only came to eat the young 
Pheasants’ food, did not shoot it, until he saw the Moorhen strike a young Pheasant, which it killed imme- 
diately and devoured, except the leg- and wing-bones. The remains agreed exactly with eight found before. 
Perfect confidence may be placed in the correctness of this statement.” — Zoologist, 1854, p. 4255. 
For further evidence in proof of the correctness of these statements see my account of the Moorhen 
in the fourth volume. 
In case what I have here and there said respecting the pugnacious and carnivorous propensities of the 
Moorhen should excite surprise, I may mention that they appear to be shared in common with all the other 
members of the group to which it belongs, from the delicately formed Rail to the most robust Porphjrio ; 
and that they are all of a combative disposition is evidenced by the possession of a sharp spur on the wing, 
short in some of the species, and prolonged in others. 
The question has arisen whether, when we consider the present comparative scarcity of the Peregrine and 
other of their enemies, it will be really advisable to encourage the breeding of the marine or cliff birds, 
many persons being fearful that such a measure would lead to a great decrease in our edible fish, upon 
which they solely subsist. The daily quantity consumed by the Gannet and Cormorant, to say nothing of 
the Guillemots, Terns, &c., is greatly beyond conception, thus showing that both care and judgement are 
necessary with regard to the new laws about to be enacted. 
Had a measure been passed fifty years ago and penalties enforced for killing the Great Auk and the few 
remaining Bustards that then stalked over our great plains, we should doubtless have still had these two fine 
birds gracing our islands ; as it is, the former (^Alca tmpenms or Gare Fowl) is wholly extirpated from the 
waters, not only of our own country, but of the universe. The Bustard still holds its own on the Continent, 
whence now and then in the course of a few years one strays over the seas, and visits the haunts of those of 
its kind which formerly existed here ; its permanent residence again amotig us, however, is rendered Impos- 
sible by the gradual disappearance under cultivation of the vast plains and wolds over which It roamed, 
whereby they have been rendered incompatible with Its existence. The Capercaillie, which probably died 
