Definition of "moorhen" []

• Chiefly British A common, widely distributed species of gallinule, Gallinula chloropus. (noun)
• Chiefly British The female red grouse. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "New Mexico: Non-toxic ammunition required for common moorhen; sora, a freshwater marsh bird; Virginia rail and snipe with shotguns, as well as dove, band-tailed pigeon, upland game or migratory game birds on all State Game Commission owned or managed areas."
• "A tiny rill meandered beneath a stone slab and as I crossed this a lurking moorhen was startled into headlong escape downstream, soon hidden beneath a golden tangle of overhanging gorse."
• "I've woken at dawn to a sleeping village, nursed a mug of coffee in the chill of the open cockpit, watched a moorhen scutter across the smoking water, heard church bells chime the hour and felt—as it's so easy to do on the canals—at one with England."