RALLUS AQUATICUS 257 



Order GRALL^. 



Family EALLID^. 



RALLUS AQUATICUS, Linnaeus. 



WATEE-EAIL. 



Ballus aquaticus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 262 (17G6) ; Sliarpe, Cat. Birds 

 Brit. Mus. xxiii, p. 20; Malherhe, Cat. Bais. d'Ois. Alg. p. 21 (1846); 

 Loche, Expl. Sci. Alg. Ois. ii, p. 336 (1867) ; Koanig, J. f. 0. 1888, 

 p. 265 ; id. J. f. 0. 1893, p. 79 ; Whitaker, Ibis, 1896, p. 98 ; Erlanger, 

 J. f. 0. 1900, p. 46. 



Description. — Adult male, spring, from Source des Trois Palmiers, 

 Central Tunisia. 



Upper plumage generally dark olive-brown, streaked with black, darkest 

 on the quills and tail; sides of head, neck, throat, breast and upper 

 abdomen bluish-slate ; lower abdomen and flanks black, barred with white ; 

 thighs and under tail-coverts whitish-buff. 



Iris red ; bill reddish-brown, darker above and lighter below ; feet grey- 

 brown. 



Total length 9 inches, wing 4, culmen 1'50 ; tarsus 1-65. 



Adult female similar to the male, but rather duller and smaller. 



The Water-Eail is common in winter and during the periods of 

 passage in all suitable localities north of the Atlas, and may also 

 be met with, though not so often, south of those mountains. It 

 breeds in the Eegency and is to be found in certain numbers through- 

 out the year. The species is abundant and resident in Algeria, and 

 is probably so in Marocco also, although I have no positive knowledge 

 of its nesting there. 



The Water-Eail frequents marshy spots and wet localities over- 

 grown with dense aquatic vegetation, where it can easil}' hide itself, 

 and whence it is with difficulty dislodged. It is solitary and secretive 

 in its habits, and is rarely found otherwise than singly, or in pairs 

 during the breeding-season. Its flight is feeble and seldom prolonged- 

 for any distance, but it swims well and is very clever in threading its 

 17 VOL. n. 



