MOOR-HEN.
The flight of this species is, for the most part, low as well as
slow, with the legs drooping down. During the fine warm nights of
summer they may, at times, be heard, that is the male birds, flying
about and uttering their note over-head at ;i considerable height in
the air. If disturbed in open water, the Moor-IIen will take to its
wings, but if near its nest, or in the proximity of cover, will, if it
does not use that mode of escape, resort to diving, and after the
latter, especially if pursued by a dog, will seldom rise to the surface
again, but remain submerged, the bill only being kept up for the
purpose of breathing. For a conclusive essay on this power possessed
by various water-birds, I refer my readers, as I have already done in
a former instance, to a paper by my brother, Beverley R. Morris, Esq.,
in the ' N a t u r a l i s t , ' volume i. The Moor-IIen not unfrequently scales
trees of the smaller size. I have found one on the top of an ivycovered
thorn bush, some tea or twelve feet from the ground: such
a place, or the head of a lopped oak is a favourite resort. I have
frequently observed others going to roost in alder trees, scrambling
along the branches at a like height.
They seem, when in such situations during the daytime, to like to
keep near the trunk, at least in fir-trees. They are then easily approached
quite close, and only quit on being alarmed. If surprised
on the hind they will either run or fly to the nearest cover or water,
or combine the two motions, and then hide in a hole, or under or
among the vegetation. They progress beneath the water by the united
action of both wings and legs, the expanded membrane of the toes
assisting their advance. They arc good swimmers, and run expertly
also over the water-plants. It is pretty to watch them picking out
their steps along a railing, as they may at times be seen to do, and
still more so when on the bending boughs of some small tree which
give way beneath their weight, but on which they nevertheless keep
their hold and adroitly balance themselves, although their feet are so
ill-adapted, from their size, for such performances that they can afford
but very little comparative help. It is curious also to see how cleverly
thev will thread their way out from the middle of a thick bush, without
any apparent ruffling of their feathers. When walking, or swimming,
thev frequently toss up their heads, and have a constant habit of flirting
the tail. The former motion is also constantly practised when the bird
is feeding on the water, as it pecks first on one side and then on the
other in succession. The young, when only a very few days old,
begin to forage for themselves. They take to the water instinctively.
The Rev. W. T. Bree, of Allesley Rectory, Warwickshire, gives the
following account in the ' Zoologist,' page 2801, of the feigning of
death by one of these birds, in a similar manner to that already
MOOU-HEN. 63
narrated of the Land-Rail. He says, ' W a l k i n g by the side of a millpond,
I started a Water-Hen, which rose out of the sedges close under
my feet, and flying not more than about thirty yards, settled in a wide
ditch of water, which formed part of the pool tail; on going directly
up to the spot, I saw a Watcr-Hen (the same, I conclude, that I had
just before flushed,) lying on the surface of the water, in the middle
of the ditch, perfectly motionless, and with its head apparently under
water, at least I could perceive no portion of its head or neck. I
stood viewing it for some seconds, and took it for a dead bird; but
on gently stirring once or twice with a spud I had in my hand, it
began to move, and springing up flew into an adjoining osier-bed. Was
this bird feigning death as a means of security; or why did it not
take shelter among the flags which abounded on either side of the ditch?
A few years ago, I was present at the dragging of a river, when a
Water-Hen became entangled in the net and was captured; it retained
such fast hold with its long claws among the meshes of the net, that
it was with difficulty we could release it, and some slight degree of
force perhaps might have been employed in the attempt. After the
bird was extricated, and laid upon the bare turf of the meadow, it
appeared to be nearly dead, and was unable to stand. Some means
were resorted to in way of cherishing it, in the hope of restoring animation,
but all apparently to no purpose. As life however was not quite extinct,
and with a view to give the bird a chance, it was placed among the
flags on the margin of the river, when, to our surprise, it immediately
roused itself up, and ran away into closer shelter as brisk as if nothing
had happened to it. Are we to suppose that in either or both these
instances the Watcr-Hen feigned death for the sake of defence. In
the latter instance it may possibly be urged that the bird had been
so terrified, as to have been almost frightened to death; but in the
former, no further alarm had been given to the Water-Hen except
what was occasioned by my having accidentally intruded upon its
haunts.'
They feed severally in the morning or the evening, on the water or
the laud, on water-insects, larva?, slugs, worms, grasshoppers, grain,
small mollusks, seeds, grasses, water-cresses, and other plants, the latter
being of esperial service in hard weather, when they are frozen out
from their other and ordinary sources; but even with this provision
they appear weak and languid in very hard winters, whether from
the severity of the cold, or the failure of a sufficient amount of their
more proper food. II. T. Partridge, Esq., of Hockham Hall, near
Thetford, Norfolk, relates the following curious fact in the 'Zoologist,'
page 42->o:—'At the beginning of July, the keeper having lost several