324 THE BIRDS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



companion on the other side, and a trusty retriever 

 questing along the bottom ; I called to my friend to 

 look out, and threw a stick at the bird, who did not 

 budge, and, finding that it would not move in spite 

 of several well-aimed missiles from both sides, I 

 retired some paces and shot it as it sat. On picking 

 it up we found that the poor bird had the best of 

 reasons for not taking flight, as it entirely lacked any 

 vestige or rudiment of wing on the right side, although 

 otherwise in excellent feather and condition. Curi- 

 ously enough, the retriever above mentioned emerged 

 from a dense reed-bed in Turkey, some years after the 

 occurrence just mentioned, bringing me a Water-Rail 

 alive and unwounded, but having nothing more on 

 one side, where the wing ought to have been, than a 

 slight bony protuberance covered with feathers ; in 

 the latter case it is, of course, probable that the wing 

 had been lost by accident, but in the former I feel 

 convinced that no wing had ever existed. 



In habits this bird much resembles the Crakes and 

 Waterhens, but its creeping and gliding proclivities 

 are even more strongly developed than in those 

 species, and may almost be described as reptilian ; 

 the Rail, however, can sustain a long and fairly 

 rapid flight, as is proved by several captures on 

 board of vessels at some hundreds of miles from land, 

 as quoted in the fourth edition of Yarrell and else- 

 where. The food of the present species appears to 

 consist chiefly of worms and small snails ; in captivity 

 the Water-Rail thrives well upon chopped liver, 

 becomes impudently tame in a very short time, and 

 is always ready to fight any bird, dog, cat, and 

 probably rat, as long as it can keep its breath and 

 legs. 



