LAND-RAIL. 221 



abdomen isabelline, as well as the upper tail-coverts ; sides of 

 upper breast brown, with a few white bars ; flanks sandy- 

 rufous or rufous-brown, the feathers tipped and barred with 

 isabelline or whitish ; sides of vent barred with darker brown , 

 thighs sandy-rufous; shorter under tail-coverts barred \\ith 

 rufous and brown ; under wing-coverts and axillaries bright 

 chestnut ; quills below brown, rufescent along the inner edge ; 

 bill, feet, and claws pale brown ; iris hazel. Total length, 

 lo inches; culmen, o"85 ; wing, 5*6; tail, i"9; tarsus, i'45. 



Adult Female. — Similar to the male, and having the same grey 

 on the eyebrow, face, and breast. Total length, 9 inches ; 

 wing, 5-2. 



Adult in Winter Plumage. — As in summer, but instead of the 

 grey on the eyebrow, sides of face, and breast, these parts are 

 all ochreous brown, and the sides of the body are decidedly 

 more rufescent, with distinct and broad bars of black on the 

 flanks and under tail-coverts ; the wing-coverts also have 

 distinct whitish bars, particularly on the greater series, where 

 these bars have blackish or dusky margins. 



Young after First Moult. — Similar to the winter plumage of 

 the adults, and lacking the grey on the face and breast, and 

 having the sides of the body nearly uniform tawny, with a few 

 dusky bars and whitish tips to the feathers. 



Nestling. — Covered with black down. 



Range in Great Britain. — This Rail is found throughout the 

 British Islands from the south to the north, including the 

 Hebrides, the Orkneys, and Shetlands. In Ireland, Mr. 

 Ussher says it breeds commonly in every part except the 

 mountains, nesting even in some of the islands, such as 

 Innishbofin. In the home counties of England, however, there 

 is a decided decrease in the number of Land-Rails every 

 summer, which it is difficult to account for. At Cookham, for 

 instance, in the Thames valley, the bird seldom visits us, 

 though the hay-fields are the same and its haunts absolutely 

 unchanged from the days when it was always present, thirty 

 years ago. I am speaking of my brother-in-law's estate, in 

 which no change has taken place. In the neighbourhood of 

 London, no doubt, the vast increase of building must account 



