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Mr. Aubyn Tkevor-Battye,



WATER RAILS CALLING.


By Aubyn Trevor-Battye.


Directly below the hill on which this house stands—some

40 ft. below it—is a piece of boggy and rank grass land through

which runs a stream varying from some 10 to 20 yards in width.

About half of this spot may be looked upon from the windows, and

the remainder from certain points in the garden. Because the

stream is fed by many springs from the base of the chalk escarpment,

it is here clear as crystal, but lower down it passes into the Tertiary

system to become the muddy Bother. The stream is shallow, with

here and there little islands and promontories of weed and silt; and

its bed is stony. It runs southward away from the house, so that

one sees it lengthways. On its left bank there is in summer a

stretch of coarse grass, hog, and forget-me-not, a “carrier ” lined with

willow-herb, and a jungle of bramble, sallow-hushes, and water mints.


On the right hank is a- “ forest,” one might almost say, of the


beautiful, feathered, “ barren ” stems of the Great Horntail ( Equise -

turn telmateid), in places higher than one’s head, though at this date,

March 15th, all is flat and brown. I ought to have said that at one

point a small side stream enters, which makes its own little muddy

delta. The width of the main stream proper is doubled by a line of

flat beds, separated by low waterfalls, and filled with water-weeds and

water-cress. From this it will he clear that here we have an excellent

feeding-ground for water-fowl and waders, although all on a small

scale. These details were needed in order to explain how it comes

about that birds so shy as Snipe and Water Bails may be studied

without difficulty from our windows.


This rough, damp ground is, of course, visited by various birds

from the wood that touches it; Pheasants come (they are always

lovers of damp ground), and Wrens; Wood-Pigeons, also, are con¬

stantly flying down to drink. But its usual residents have been

Wild-duck, Moorhen, Dabchicks, and Grey Wagtails. (The Grey

Wagtails are there now, though our Field Wagtails disappeared when

the hard weather came and have not been seen since).


I have never seen Coots up so high as this, though there are

Coots on the broader water just below. As their usual feeding-



