THE WATER-RAIL 179 



haunts, invisible in the gloom, just as the Moorhen is wont 

 to do ; and rarely you may flush him from the willow 

 thickets, especially in spring or autumn, when he is rather 

 unsettled, or in winter, when the weather is severe and most 

 of the pools are frozen. His food consists of insects, especially 

 those of the coleopterous order, worms, and various small 

 moUusks. In winter, when hard pressed, he will eat the 

 leaves and buds and seeds of various aquatic plants, and I 

 have known him make a meal on the white snails which often 

 cover the grass in the autumn months. 



Water-Eails are most unsociable birds. Earely do we 

 meet with more than a pair in one part of the broad, and, 

 except in the breeding season, we more often meet with a 

 single solitary bird swimming about seemingly more intent 

 on concealing itself than any other pursuit. The Water-Eail 

 may pair for life, although of this I have not much confirma- 

 tory evidence. It breeds in April and May, making its nest 

 amongst the clumps of rushes, or in the dense vegetation on 

 the margin of the water. This nest is most difficult to find, 

 and usually owes its discovery more to accident than design. 

 Systematic searching through its haunts may, and often does, 

 lead to nothing but failure, but we sometimes stumble across 

 it when we least expect to do so, and in a place we should 

 scarcely think likely enough to examine. It is made of the 

 stems and leaves of the reeds and rushes, perhaps a few bits 

 of coarse grass, or even a dead leaf or two. The eggs are 

 six or seven in number, and very much like those of the 

 Land-Eail ; but the spots are smaller, and often more clearly 

 defined. The sitting-bird is rarely flushed from the eggs — 

 she leaves them long before her home is approached ; but if 

 suddenly surprised she slips off and glides through the sur- 

 rounding herbage with great speed, rarely uttering a sound, 

 and skulks close by until the danger has passed. I do not 

 think she ever covers her conspicuous eggs when leaving 



