Stilt Birds are uncommon in Western Europe; they are principally to be met with in the Russian and Hungarian marshes. During the summer they occasionally visit the shores of the Mediterranean, but they are seldom seen on those of the Atlantic. By sportsmen they are little thought of.
Macrodactyles.
The birds forming the family of Macrodactyles (long-toed) are remarkable for the extreme length of their toes, which are entirely separate, or but slightly webbed; they are thus enabled to walk on the weeds growing on the surface of the water. In most instances the shortness of their wings limits their powers of flight.
This order includes the Water Hens (Gallinula), the Taleves, or Sultana Hens, the Rails (Rallus), the Coots (Fulica), the Glareolæ, and the Kamichis.
The chief characteristics of the Water Hen are a short and strong bill, thick at the base and sharp at the end, with a prolongation of it extending up the forehead; four well-spread toes, furnished with sharp claws—the three front toes united by a small and cloven membrane. They are plentiful in some parts of the globe, their favourite haunts being marshy places and the banks of lakes or rivers, where they feed on worms, insects, mollusks, and the smaller fish. They are lively, graceful, and ornamental birds. During the day they love to lie hid among the reeds, shaded from the sun's rays by the large leaves of the water-lily. They emerge from their hiding-places at evening and morning in search of food.
Although incapable of either fast flight or rising to great elevations, the Water Hen shows considerable address in escaping from the sportsman's gun. When pressed very closely, they take to the water, in which they are expert swimmers and divers: under the water they go, to reappear on the surface many yards away, where they only show themselves above for a moment to breathe, avoiding flight until every cause of fear is removed.
In some countries they remain throughout the year; in others, on the contrary, they are migratory. When the latter is the case, they travel sometimes on foot, sometimes by swimming, and sometimes on the wing; following the same route, however, year after year, and always returning with constancy to the spot where they made their first nest.
The eggs are seven or eight in number. During incubation the male and female occupy the nest alternately. Should any intruder alarm them, they never fail, before leaving the nest, to cover up their cherished treasures with grass or other material, so as to keep them warm and hidden from the voracity of their watchful enemy, the Crow.
Immediately after the young are hatched they leave the nest to follow their mother, and are very soon able to supply their own wants. Their only covering at first is a scanty and coarse down; but they run rapidly, and seem almost instinctively to swim and dive and conceal themselves at the slightest appearance of danger. Young Water Hens, however, are exposed to accident from the flooding of streams, and consequent submersion of the nests; and it is probably by way of compensation for this that nature has made them so prolific, for frequently they rear three broods per annum.
The Common Water Hen ([Fig. 117]) is a native of Europe; it is found in France, England, Italy, Germany, and Holland. The Slate-coloured Water Hen is a native of Java.