THE WATER RAIL. 221 



of man. Its powers of flight are very limited, for its 

 wings are short and concave, and ill-adapted for 

 rapidity of motion ; thus, instead of trusting to this 

 mode of safety, it conceals itself amid the thick- 

 matted vegetation of a low-lying country. To com- 

 pensate for its awkward and fluttering flight, we find 

 it has been given a structure of feet and legs admi- 

 rably adapted for swiftness ; while the shape of its 

 bill, head, and form is slender, to enable it, with 

 facility, to pierce through the maze of aquatic plants 

 and grasses of its localities. 



Specimens of the water rail are often procured in 

 the winter; when it is driven, by the severity of the 

 season, to haunts nearer the reach of man, into some 

 cavity, or covered place, where it is sometimes even 

 taken by the hand. Sir W. Jardine mentions, that, 

 in his own vicinity, the bird will be met with, in 

 winter, in the wet ditches that do not easily freeze ; 

 where, no doubt, it can still procure food. The same 

 naturalist thus describes an adult male, shot in his 

 neighbourhood. The accuracy of Jardine 's specifica- 

 tions makes them especially valuable to young natu- 

 ralists : — 



" This male bird has the crown and all the upper 

 parts yellowish brown, tinted with oil green, the 

 centre of each feather black; on the centre of the 

 back occupying nearly the whole feather, but on the 

 lower part and scapulars being in the centre only, and 

 there on the wings and tail, allowing the pale colour 

 to be the prevailing one ; quills nearly clove brown ; 



s 2 



