378 
RALL1DA5. 
Gil ALL A TOMES. 
RALLIDJE. 
WATER-HEN—MOOR-HEN. 
Gallinula chloropus. 
PLATE CVII. FIG. I. 
I know of no bird, when in a state of nature, the eggs 
of which differ so much in size as those of the Water- 
hen; whilst some specimens do not exceed one inch and 
six lines in length, others will measure five lines more, 
and will hold above twice as much as the smallest eggs: 
they are subject to very little variation in colour; the 
figure of the plate is of a medium size, and more closely 
spotted than is common. 
The Water-hen builds its nest upon the sides of lakes 
and ponds, and frequently to its cost close upon the mar¬ 
gin of a running stream, or upon an island, or sand-bank 
surrounded by its waters. Montague says, that great 
numbers of them are annually destroyed in consequence 
of their being placed in such a position. Mr. Selby gives 
a most interesting account of a pair of Water-hens which 
raised their nest a story higher to avoid the rising of 
some water near which it was placed, carrying their eggs 
away till the elevation was completed, and again re¬ 
placing them. Rusticus, also, a most agreeable writer in 
the Magazine of Natural History , gives an amusing 
account of his discovery of a nest of this species in a 
fir-tree twenty feet above the ground. He says, “The 
