410 BIRDS OF NORFOLK. 
by diving is prevented by the ice, the unfortunate rail 
falls an easy victim; either compelled to take flight, or, 
not unfrequently captured by the dog. 
Mr. A. Newton tells me that on the 16th of February, 
1856, during frosty weather, he had a live water-rail 
brought to him at Elveden. As it had been a good 
many hours without food, and there was not the least 
chance of its obtaining any if he liberated it, he put 
some soaked bread into its bill, and in a few minutes, 
while he yet held it in his hand, it began to pick bits 
of bread from his fingers. On his setting it down on 
the floor with a saucer before it it went fairly to work, 
and soon made itself at home, running about the room 
and showing great inquisitiveness. It examined every 
corner, tried to scramble into all sorts of impossible 
places, perched on the cross rails of chairs, jumped up 
to the windows, when, of course, it was much surprised 
by the nature of glass; finishing every tour of inspection 
with a visit to the saucer, and now and then walking 
deliberately to the fireplace, where it shook its feathers 
and dozed for a few moments in evident enjoyment of 
the warmth. With all this, however, it only lived a 
short time. 
Messrs. Gurney and Fisher mention a curious instance 
of a water-rail being found dead in a meadow at Harl- 
ham, near Norwich, with a small fish called the 
“‘Miller’s thumb” (Cottus gobio) fixed in its throat, 
the bird having been choked in the attempt to swallow 
it.* Varieties of this species are very rarely met with. 
In February, 1863, I saw a rather remarkable-looking 
specimen which had been shot at Lingwood, and had 
the upper part of the head, neck, back, and wing- 
coverts, thickly sprinkled with white feathers. 
* Mr. Jeffery in his “Ornithological Notes from West Sussex ” 
( Zoologist,” 1868, p. 1034), remarks, “The water-rail is a fish 
eater; three small ‘Miller’s thumbs’ or ‘Bull heads’ were found 
in the stomach of one.” 
