BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 95 



outstanding; but the areas of different tints fade gradu- 

 ally into each other, producing a fine harmony of colour. 

 This effect is heightened by the peculiarly smooth and 

 velvety appearance of much of the plumage. The 

 plumage of the adult female is similar to the male's, 

 but duller altogether. 



Our most intimate experience of the Water-Rail was 

 when one took shelter in a shed during a stormy night 

 of the autumn migration season. It was brought in- 

 doors, and lived on a cork mat floating in a bath for 

 a couple of days, and was then allowed to resume its 

 interrupted journey. To watch it was a delight, for it 

 proved to be unexpectedly graceful in its movements, 

 and astonishingly fearless in the presence of so many of 

 its 'enemies.' There were no frantic flutterings, no vain 

 dashes for liberty, no pitiful beatings against the window, 

 such as one expects from most captive birds. On the 

 contrary, it needed no coercion to keep it on its mat, 

 where it showed no symptoms of alarm beyond a nervous 

 snake-like shooting out and drawing back of the head, 

 and graceful, sinuous movements of the neck. We were 

 again impressed with the perfect 'lie' of the plumage 

 and the delicate gradation of its hues. 



Laying may begin early in April, and two broods are 

 probably reared in a season. The nest is of reed-flags 

 and sedge, and is well concealed among the rank herbage 

 of the marshy ground. The eggs, seven to eleven in 

 number, are speckled with delicate red and gray on 

 a creamy ground. The female Water-Rail often sits 

 very closely, and when she does leave the nest it is on 

 foot and by stealth, so that she rarely betrays the 

 position of her treasures. In fact, the bird is at all 

 times as loath to take wing as any of its cousins. The 

 active, nidifugous little chicks that are hatched in due 



