Page:Natural History, Birds.djvu/299

 she followed them under water. And Mr. Jesse, having disturbed a Moor-hen that had just hatched, tells us that " her anxiety and manoeuvres to draw away her young were singularly interesting. She would go a short distance, utter a cry, return, and seemed to point out the way for her brood to follow. Having driven her away," he continues, "that I might have a better opportunity of watching her young ones, she never ceased calling to them, and at length they made towards her, skulking amongst the rushes, till they got to the other side of the pond. They had only just left the shell, and had probably never heard the cry of their mother before."

The young have the legs and feet of their full size and development, while the feathers of the wings are only beginning to protrude; thus proving how subordinate the organs of flight in this genus are to those of walking and swimming. Contrary to what is usual among birds, the female Gallinule is more richly adorned than the male; the plumage being of a deeper colour, and the frontal shield being larger, and of a brilliant scarlet, like sealing-wax, while that of the other sex is of a dull brown.