4 
230 THE WATER RAIL 
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THE LITTLE CRAKE 
PORZANA PARVA 
Head brown; upper plumage olive-ash, the feathers black in the centre; 
middle of the back black, sprinkled with white ; throat, face, and breast, 
bluish grey, without spots ; abdomen and flanks indistinctly barred with 
white and brown; wings without spots, reaching to the extremity of 
the tail ; bill green, reddish at the base ; irides red; feet green. Length 
seven and a half inches. Eggs yellowish, spotted with olive-brown. 
THIS species appears to be generally diffused throughout the 
eastern and southern countries of Europe, but is very rare in 
England, coming now and again from spring to autumn. It is 
a shy bird, like the last species, confining itself exclusively to 
reedy marshes, and building its nest close to the water’s edge. It 
lays seven or eight eggs. 
THE WATER RAIL 
RALLUS AQUATICUS 
Upper feathers reddish brown, with black centres; under plumage in front 
lead-colour, behind and on the flanks barred with black and white; bill 
red, tinged with red above and at the tip; irides red; feet flesh-colour. 
Length teninches. Eggs yellowish, spotted with ash-grey and red-brown. 
THE Water Rail is a generally diffused bird, but nowhere very 
common, haunting bushy and reedy places near the banks of rivers 
and lakes, and especially the Norfolk Broads, where it feeds on 
aquatic insects, worms, and snails. Like the Crakes, it makes 
more use of its legs than of its wings, and places its safety in con- 
cealment. Rarely does it take flight, and then only when closely 
hunted ; still more rarely does it expose itself outside its aquatic 
jungle. I recollect on one occasion, during an intense frost, when 
every marsh was as impenetrable to a bird’s bill as a sheet of 
marble, passing in a carriage near a stream which, having just 
issued from its source, was unfrozen; I then saw more than one 
Water Rail hunting for food among the short rushes and grass 
on the water’s edge. Its mode of walking I thought was very 
like that of the Moor-hen, but it had not the jerking movement 
of body characteristic of that bird, which alone would have sufficed 
to distinguish it, even if I had not been near enough to detect the 
difference of colour. Either the severity of the weather had 
sharpened its appetite, and made it less shy than usual, or it had 
not learnt to fear a horse and carriage, for it took no notice of 
the intrusion on its privacy, but went on with its search without 
condescending to look up. The Water Rail, then, unlike the 
Corn Crake, remains with us all the winter. When forced to rise, 
this bird flies heavily straight forwards, at no great elevation above 
the rushes, with its legs hanging loose, and drops into the nearest 
