820 
BIRD-LIFE. 
above-mentioned accomplishments it is a first-rate diver, 
using its wings as oars when swimming under water: 
this art is only resorted to, however, when the bird is 
menaced by great danger, and not for the purpose of 
seeking its food at the bottom. Its flight is bad, heavy, 
weak and laboured; thus it rarely makes use of this 
mode of locomotion. When in danger it hides itself 
amongst the reeds and rushes : I may well make use of 
the term hide, for the sharpest eye can but rarely make 
the bird out when it desires to keep out of sight. If 
there is sufficient water it dives, only raising its beak 
above water from time to time to breathe, but nothing 
more; if it reaches the shore it creeps in amongst the 
reed-stems. It forces its thin, supple body through any 
opening, will crawl through the densest sedge, and 
wander over the most treacherous surface without sinking 
in, owing to the great length of its toes, which always 
afford it sufficient support. In undisturbed, out-of-the- 
way ponds its habits are timorous, and it decamps imme¬ 
diately on the approach of man, half running half flying 
close over the surface of the water, till it gains the reeds 
in safety. In most localities, however, it, on the con¬ 
trary, takes up its abode in the neighbourhood of man, 
when, if not molested, it becomes as tame as the domestic 
Fowls, Ducks, &c„ about the courtyard. It may often be 
seen on a small pond in the middle of a village or a 
garden pursuing its avocations, and not troubling itself in 
the slightest degree about man, though even then it does 
not court too open observation. 
The Moorhen shows itself to best advantage when 
breeding, though perhaps one trait of its character can 
scarcely be exactly looked upon as praiseworthy, namely, 
its intense love of tyranny: no Moorhen will bear with 
