1.  Any of the various ralline birds, esp. the MOOR-HEN, Gallinula chloropus.

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a. 1529.  Skelton, P. Sparowe, 453. The dyuendop to slepe; The water-hen to wepe.

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1544.  Turner, Avium Præcip., I 6. Τρύγγας, trynga, Anglice a water hen, or a mot hen.

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1621.  [see DIDAPPER].

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1675.  Hobbes, Odyss., V. 316. And now in figure of a Water-hen, She sat upon the Raft and to him spake.

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1678.  Ray, Willughby’s Ornith., III. II. i. 312. Section I. Cloven-footed Birds that swim in the Water…. Chap. 1. Of Water-hens or More-hens in general.

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1765.  Sterne, Tr. Shandy, VIII. xxxiv. Thou must … carefully abstain … from peacocks, cranes, coots, didappers and water-hens.

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1844.  Hood, Haunted Ho., I. 54. The coot was swimming in the reedy pond, Beside the water-hen.

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1867.  Morris, Jason, XV. 130. So still she stood, that the quick water-hen Noted her not.

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1885.  Lady Brassey, The Trades, 118. The specimens included … rails, water-hens, [etc.].

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  b.  Water-hen hackle, an artificial fly made of the hackle feathers of the water-hen.

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1837.  Kirkbride, Northern Angler, 31. The Water-hen Hackle … is an excellent trout-fly.

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  † 2.  Purple water-hen: = PORPHYRIO. Obs.

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1678.  Ray, Willughby’s Ornith., III. II. iii. 318. Of the Porphyrio, or purple Water-hen.

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1743.  G. Edwards, Nat. Hist. Birds, II. 87. The Purple Water-Hen.

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  3.  The American coot, Fulica americana. local U.S. (Mass.)

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1891.  Century Dict.

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  4.  East Indian. (See quot.)

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1873.  E. Balfour, Cycl. India (ed. 2), V. s.v. Water hen. The Indian water hen, Parra Sinensis,… is met with in the north of India, running over the leaves of the lotus.

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