waterhens

My commute takes me past a large creek, so I get to see ducks, waterhens, turtles and water lizards pretty much every day.

The Dignity of Commuting by Bicycle: Cold-Blooded Murder BikeSnobNYC 2010

“Oct. 4, 1874. — 9 hares, 8 pheasants, 3 brace of partridges, 2 couple of rabbits, 3 woodpigeons, 2 waterhens.”

Records of Woodhall Spa and Neighbourhood Historical, Anecdotal, Physiographical, and Archaeological, with Other Matter James Conway Walter

The water runs with the deep sparkle of cut glass; forget-me-nots grow about it, and reed mace, and figwort and bittersweet; waterhens wander in the shaven grass of its brim, and dabchicks go plump in the current like cricket-balls.

Highways and Byways in Surrey Eric Parker 1912

Now she missed the noise of the water – the cry of the waterhens – the stirring of the reeds.

John Halifax, Gentleman 1897

In going over to Wannoggin, a distance of fourteen miles, I found the plains everywhere intersected by small creeks, most of them containing water, which was sheltered from the sun by the overhanging branches of drooping shrubs, tall marshmallows, and luxuriant salt bushes; and at some of them were hundreds of ducks and waterhens.

Successful Exploration Through the Interior of Australia William John Wills 1847