Larer2 Ss 5 NY We Water-Rail. Rallus aquaticus, Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 262 Se eee It is no easy task to write a life-like description of the Water-Rail, its h eature, in actions as much like » pools, and water-cour Li things besides this little d facility, and bounds like a ball before the nose of th danger, or swims across the pool for a simil abits, and economy. We know that a rat as a bird, and that it frequents ses, particularly where tussocky grasses abound ark-coloured bird, which threads the herbage with e ee This lath-like bird, which flies only to avoid ar purpose, delights in a st; sclusi year round in low situations among tangled ies ce the. hahaa Gu - chloropus), to which it most closely assimilates in its mode of life and economy: b or - : ae may be, the Water-Rail is still more so, and hence it is very seldom seen or foe tk es a over the British Islands is so general that it is found everywhere, from fhe Land’s End a fn a of Orkney and Shetland and the outermost Hebrides. It is equally numerous in every part of Rirdpe . . . ‘ ; Africa from north, to South, India from the Himalayas throughout the peninsula, China, and Japan ; yet penely as the bird is distributed, how seldom is it seen, and how few are the persons who have had a close view of it! We know that it builds a slight nest of leaves and strips of flags, in a tuft of grass near the edge of the stream, lake, or pond, and that it lays eight or nine egos ‘ : s, from which in due time emerge a like number of small black-downy nestlings; these tiny creatures scramble about the herbage in the innermost recesses of the pool, and accompany their parents over the floating leaves of the I, : . us . . . im ee . Nymphee and other aquatic flowers, hunting with the utmost activity, from the minute they are born, for the flies and other insects constituting their food. If, in the English waters, they escape the Pike, and in the African lagoon the equally destructive Tortoise, they soon change their black downy livery for feathers similar in character and colouring to those of their parents, both of which are alike in their dress. it is a shy, stealthy, active, running er the sedge-covered sides of our rivers and afford shelter for many other Were the sportsman to go out with the express intention of shooting a Water-Rail, the chances are that eight out of ten times he would be disappointed ; yet I have known several killed in a day during the great Pheasant-dattues in the low copses and ditchy covers of Norfolk, Suffolk, and Lincolnshire : rarely, however, does it take wing, even before a string of beaters; should it do so, it is for the last time, for it flies straight and slowly, and it is therefore easily killed. Unlike the Land-Rail, this bird is strictly indigenous in our islands, and consequently is to be found at all seasons ; but great accessions to the usual numbers arrive during the autumn months from the north, at least this is the opinion of Mr. Stevenson of Norwich, who has favoured me with the following note respecting the bird as observed by him in Norfolk :— “The Water-Rail is common throughout the year, and is found in all moist situations, but, of course, most plentifully amongst the reed-beds and sedgy margins of the broads, where it nests freely during the summer months. Yet, from the swampy nature of the localities, but few eggs are taken in any season. It has been doubtful whether this species remains in England during the winter; but supposing even that some portion of those bred in our marshes proceed further south during sharp weather, others undoubtedly still remain, and, like the common Waterhens, suffer very severely during sharp frosts. I have shot ae both on the broads and by the river-side, when the ground has been covered with snow, and only a buna channel left unfrozen in the middle of the stream. Why these birds should remain ih us at such times, to endure the privations of both hunger and cold, it is difficult to imagine, more ae as ae more northern localities, proving the migratory habits of the species, undoubtedly visit : a 8 ne autumn months. On more than one occasion, whilst Snipe-shooting at Surlingham, iu . : el a November, I have found unusual numbers of these birds, and, after shooting une ae oe Hea a the greatest difficulty in calling off the dog and persuading him to ae are ae eo Snipe. At such times I have always discovered the Rails scattered ate cae a ee - broad, and either winding their way between the tassocks ot ae 5 we generally fete by the the sallow and alder bushes, whilst the few that are met ue ‘s ae ‘ocr them (Onecare water’s edge or from the sedges bordering a Cee oe a lone flight, they afford ample sport numbers for two successive days; but like Woodcocks, resting aiter a long Mis" at the time, and are soon off again on their southward journey.