86 OUR RESIDENT BIRDS 



Materials. A little dry grass roughly arranged round 

 the eggs. 



Eggs. Four to seven or more. White and smooth. 



WATER RAIL (Rallus aquaticus). 



Resident but partially migrant. Generally distri- 

 buted, though local and rather uncommon. 



Haunts. Fens, marshes, rivers, &c. 



Observation Distinguish from Land Rail (migrant) 

 by longer bill, greyer under parts, and dark flanks well 

 barred with white. 



Plumage. Upper parts olive-brown, with black streaks 

 to centre of feathers. Cheeks, neck, and breast dull 

 grey. Flanks blackish, distinctly barred with white. 

 Bill red, and longer than in other Rails. Legs and feet 

 brownish flesh-colour. Length io in. Female duller, 

 and sometimes barred with white on the wing. Young, 

 more olivaceous above than adult ; dull buffish white 

 below, with speckles on throat and dark brown bars on 

 flanks. Nestling covered with black down. 



Language. A harsh cry resembling " creek." 



Habits. Shy and elusive, always skulking on the 

 slightest alarm ; flies most reluctantly, and with dangling 

 legs. Although not web-footed, it swims and dives with 

 facility. Preferably, however, it runs about with 

 extreme rapidity among the rank dense herbage of its 

 marshy home, and is seldom seen. 



Food. Snails, slugs, worms, aquatic plants, &c. 



Nest. April onwards. Two broods. 



Site. In tufts of sedges, or rushes ; amongst coarse, 

 rank, aquatic herbage, always well concealed and near 

 water. 



Materials. Coarse grass, bits of sedge, reed-leaves. 



Eggs. Seven to ten. Creamy white, sparsely speckled 

 and spotted with reddish brown and ash-grey. 



