MOOK-IIEX.
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 -Moor-Hen was seen walking
about near the copse; the keeper, supposing that it only came to eat
the young Pheasants- food, did not shoot it until he saw the Moor-Hen
strike a Pheasant, which it killed immediately, and devoured all the
young bird except the leg and wing bones. The remains agreed
exactly with those of eight found before. Perfect confidence mav be
placed in the correctness of this statement.* They wander at times
into stubbie fields, in the neighbourhood of their usual haunts, in search
of food, or even venture into the farmer's stack-yard.
The note is a mere cry or sort of chirping call, moderately loud.
The nest, which is large, is strongly put together, though only of
rough workmanship, and is commonly found well concealed among
reeds, Long grass, or the roots of trees, just above the water's edge,
on the margin of a stream or by a bank. One has been known as
much as three feet above the surface, on the stump of a tree, or even on
the lower branches of a fir, or in a thorn bush at that elevation. The
Rev. Leonard Jenyns has recorded an instance in which it was constructed
among the ivy encircling a large elm, which hung over the
water's edge, at the height of at least ten feet from the ground. A
writer in the 'Magazine of Natural History,' mentions another placed
in a fir tree twenty feet above the water. He says ' t h e r e was a reason
for it, the rising of the water in the pond frequently flooded the banks
of the island, and, as I had before witnessed, had destroyed several
broods.* One was built upon the branches of a willow overhanging
the lake at Castle Howard, the seat of my Lord Carlisle, at a height
of four or five feet above the water.
The nest has been known quite unattached to any fixture, though
surrounded by loose sticks, and thus at the mercy of the winds and
waves. The birds have been observed both to hatch their eggs after
being removed iu part of the nest to another place, and also themselves
to remove them, when threatened with destruction by the rising of the
water, fresh materials being in each case brought together. J. 11.
Gurney, Esq. and W. R. Fisher, Esq. have recorded an instance in
which they knew the nest of a Moor-Hen placed in a fir plantation at
a distance of a quarter of a mile from any water. I have seen one
myself placed at some height over the water on a fallen branch of a
tree, which formed a natural bridge oyer a river.
The Rev. J. C. Atkinson, writing in the 'Zoologist,* page 767,
observes of the Moor-Hen, that it, 'occasionally at least, builds a
second nest, to accommodate a moiety of its young, when they have
MOOR-HEN. 66
attained a size too large to permit the original one to contain them all;
and when the colony is sent to the second nest, one of the old birds
accompanies it. An instance of this habit occurred in the vicinity of
my father's residence, when I was last at home. Tire female Moor-Hen
was the architect, and the subsidiary nest she busied herself in
constructing was built on a bough overhanging the water. The weight
of the structure at last became too great for the bough to bear; it
gave way, and the nest was destroyed by its own weight, which caused
it to fall to pieces when it lost its horizontal position. The old bird
seemed to be much annoyed at the perversity of the bough and nest,
or else at her own want of foresight, and pecked among the 'debris*
with every symptom of rage. She soon, however, renewed her labours,
after having selected a morn favourable site, and (his time the structure
was successfully finished. Another nest in a pond near my father's
garden, was, after two or three eggs had been deposited, beautifully
lined with last year's oak leaves, regularly arranged with their points
directed upwards.'
' D u r i n g the breeding season,' says Dr. Stanley, 'they are constantly
adding materials to their nests, making sad havoc in the flower gardens;
for though straw and leaves are their chief ingredients, they seem to
have an eye for beauty, and the old hen has been seen surrounded
with a brilliant wreath of scarlet anemones. As in this case, so do
they usually build their nests on stumps of trees or convenient bushes,
by the side of the water, and artlessly formed, as it is, of a few rushes,
one might suppose it would be easily discovered, which would be the
case but for the caution adopted by the bird, who, before she quits
her eggs, covers them carefully up, for the joint purpose of concealment
and warmth.
A person fishing on the banks of the Thames, when passing a
willow-bed, heard a slight rustling motion. Suspecting it to proceed
from some water bird, he kneeled down and remained perfectly quiet,
when the noise ceased. On rising and looking about, he saw a Water-
Hen busily employed iu collecting dry rushes and flags, and laying
them one by one over her eggs, deposited in one of those bare nests
close beside her. It was not long before she had completely hidden
them; and then looking round with a cautious glance, not aware that
her motions were observed, softly and silently glided away amongst the
reeds, and disappeared. On a nearer approach, strange to say, the
nest was with difficulty found; and no one who had not previously
ascertained its existence was thereabouts could possibly have discovered
it.
AVe have said that they usually build cither on a level with, or
VOL. v. K