32 RAIL TRIBE 



part of Europe, and western and Central Asia, migratini^ to a certain 

 extent in winter to north Africa and north-western India ; but 

 a larije percentage winter in the summer-haunts, even as far north 

 as the Shetlands, although this is rare. In Norway the species is 

 permanently resident as far north as Bergen, as it also is in Iceland. 

 Where conditions are favourable to its existence, the water-rail breeds 

 throughout Great Britain, and the same may be said with regard to 

 Ireland. In eastern Siberia, China, and Japan its place is taken b}' 

 the Indian water-rail, which winters in India and Burma, and is readily 

 distinguished by the presence of a broad brown stripe through each e}-e. 



The most distinctive feature of the water -rail, which measures 

 11^ inches in length, is the long red beak. As regards general 

 colour, the upper-parts are olive-brown streaked with black ; the sides 

 of the head, neck, and breast dark lead or bluish grey ; the flanks 

 black barred with white ; and the abdomen pale buff. Although 

 inferior in size, measuring 9^ inches, the hen is similar in plumage 

 to her partner. In winter the wing-coverts show irregular white 

 bars, while the under-parts have the feathers edged with brown. 

 Young birds resemble adults in winter-dress, but have the throat and 

 breast dirty white tinged with brown and narrow white bars on the 

 wing-coverts. The chick is uniformly black. 



So shy and skulking is the water-rail that its presence in localities 

 where it is fairly common is often unsuspected. The best chance of 

 seeing the bird is by walking along the bank of a stream of which the 

 opposite side is clothed with bushes, when careful watching will often 

 be rewarded by a glimpse of a small brown object, which may easily 

 be mistaken for a water-rat, running swiftly between the stems. Near 

 Barnstable a pair regularly haunted a reedy ditch close to a railwaj", 

 and might be seen in the evening crossing the track immediately after 

 a train, or feeding among the reeds on the borders of the ditch, when 

 they could be distinctly observed probing their long beaks deep into 

 the mud in search of food. As a rule, water-rails are perhaps best 

 seen when the herbage is low, and they arc driven by frost to the 

 neighbourhood of running water. In addition to the covert on river 

 banks, these birds resort to the grass and reeds on the margins of 

 pools, lakes, and marshes, where they search for food, which comprises 

 small insects, water-shrimps, water-snails, and worms, as well as a 

 certain quantity of vegetable substances. During the breeding-season 

 rails utter a kind of croaking cry, known in the Norfolk Broads, where 

 these birds are very common, as " sharming." Like all the tribe, rails 

 are extremely difficult to flush, as they trust to their protective 



