THE WATER-RAIL 251 



and sedges, and never venturing to emerge from 

 their covert until they have by many examina- 

 tions quite assured themselves that there is no 

 enemy in sight. The water-rail is a smart, 

 handsome bird, with his red bill and olive-brown 

 back streaked with black, and contrasting well 

 with the slate colour of the neck and breast, the 

 white bars on the flanks, and the pale yellow of 

 the vent. In length it is between ten and eleven 

 inches. 



Dixon, in his * Rarer Birds,' describes the 

 water-rail as being unsociable, and rarely if ever 

 seen in the company of other birds. With all 

 deference to the opinion of so well-known an 

 authority on such matters, I cannot endorse the 

 statement, as for several years past I have 

 taken considerable interest in the preservation 

 both of moor-hens and water-rails, and have 

 noticed a very great increase in the number of 

 both. I constantly watched them when out feed- 

 ing in showery weather in the late spring and 

 early summer, and, as I have stated, frequently 

 saw them out in company with the moor-hens 

 indeed, I rarely ever observed any number of 

 moor-hens feeding without some few water-rails 

 being of the party. 



Since the commencement of the present work, 

 I have left the home to which I have so often 

 referred, and which I loved so well, and I dread 

 to think what may be the fate of the birds which 

 for so long were the objects of my care, and were 



