12 RALLID.E. 



with thick reeds or rushes, among which it conceals itself, 

 and from the security afforded by the dense and luxuriant 

 vegetation of marshy grounds it is seldom moved without 

 the assistance of a good dog, accustomed to them and their 

 haunts. In all these Rails the bodies of the birds are com- 

 pressed, by which they are enabled to make their way through 

 dense herbage with facility ; their toes are also long in pro- 

 portion to the size of the bird, affording them a firm footing 

 over mud or weeds, from the extent of surface they cover, 

 and enabling them also to swim with ease. 



In Ireland it is an occasional summer visiter. Mr. Dill- 

 wyn has mentioned three or four occurrences in Wales. In 

 England it is more frequently in the maritime counties than 

 in others ; and its appearance has been recorded in Cornwall, 

 Devonshire, Dorsetshire, Hampshire, and, in fact, round the 

 southern, and up the eastern coast, as high as Durham and 

 Northumberland. The Rev. Leonard Jenyns mentions that 

 this species has been met with in the fens of Cambridgeshire 

 by the middle of March ; and Mr. Borrer, Jun. has noticed 

 several occurrences in the same county in autumn. The 

 authors of the catalogue of Norfolk and Suffolk Birds say, 

 " there can be no doubt that the Spotted Gallinule breeds in 

 the marshes of Norfolk. We have seen a considerable num- 

 ber of its eggs at Yarmouth, which, as well as its young, 

 were found in the neighbourhood of that place. We are also 

 in possession of an egg taken from a female of this species 

 which was killed in the marshes below Norwich."" 



These birds probably breed in several other parts of 

 England, where they can find suitable localities ; and are, 

 in consequence, more frequently obtained in autumn than 

 at any other season. Mr. Selby mentions, that, by the aid 

 of a dog accustomed to pursue these birds, he has, just 

 previous to their departure in autumn, sometimes flushed 

 as many as six in a large morass in his neighbourhood in 



