13G OUR RARER BRITISH BREEDING BIRDS. 



later in the day my brother came along and photo- 

 graphed it, with one of the chicks sitting in the 

 entrance hole anxiously waiting for its mother to 

 return with a supply of insects. 



The nest is placed on the ground amongst thick 

 grass, dead bracken, and other herbage iri woods, 

 old plantations, and other places where timber is 

 plentiful, and is composed of moss, leaves, and 

 dead grass, lined with fine grass and horse-hair. 

 It is dome-shaped like that of the Willow^ Warbler 

 and Chiffchaff, and may generally be distinguished 

 from them by the fact that it is not lined with 

 feathers, although some instances have recently 

 been recorded of this being done by the Wood 

 Warbler. 



The eggs number from five to seven, but more 

 generally a clutch consists of six, the ground colour 

 of which is white, speckled and spotted all over 

 with daik purplish-brown and ash-grey. The 

 spots are generally most numerous at the larger 

 end. They are not likely to be confused with 

 those of any other species breeding in a similar 

 situation, especially when the appearance of the 

 bird and the lining of the nest are taken into 

 consideration. 



WATER RAIL. 



THE shy, skulking habits of the Water Eail no doubt 

 make it appear to be a much rarer bird than it really 

 is, but from the small number of nests found in 

 this country it cannot, I fear, as some naturalists 

 assert, be abundant as a breeding species even in 

 the most favoured localities. I saw a nest at Potter 

 Heigham in Norfolk last year, and my brother saw 



