560 THE RAILS 



In the earlier stages they are probably fed altogether on insect food, and are tended 

 by the hen, but additional observations are much needed. [F. c. B. J.] 



WATER-RAIL [Rdllus aqudticus Linnaeus. Brookrunner (Hants) ; scarrag- 

 rise (Lanes.); skitty-cock (Devon). French, rale <Teau; German, Wasser- 

 ralle ; Italian, porciglione]. 



i. Description. The water-rail may easily be distinguished from its con- 

 geners by the relatively long, slightly decurved red beak, the ochreous brown 

 striated colour of the upper parts, and the white bars on the black flanks. The 

 sexes are alike, and there is no seasonal change of plumage. (PL 133.) Length 

 11 '5 in. [280*67 mm.]. The upper parts are of an ochreous brown, heavily striated 

 with black save on the wing-coverts, where the black forms an obscure blotch 

 in the centres of the feathers ; the remiges are of a uniform dark sepia, while the 

 tail feathers are nearly black with ochreous margins. The throat is white, but 

 the sides of the face and neck and the fore-breast are of a bluish slate-grey, tinged 

 on the fore-part of the flanks with brown. The hinder flank feathers are black 

 barred with white, while the abdomen is yellowish white, this hue running up into 

 the centre of the breast. The axillaries are black barred with white. The central 

 under tail-coverts are black with broad tips of ochreous yellow, while the lateral 

 coverts are white more or less tinged with yellow. After the autumn moult the 

 grey of the under parts is more or less obscured, the feathers being tipped with 

 brown. The beak is red ; the legs brownish flesh colour ; the iris red. The juvenile 

 plumage differs from that of the adult in having the upper parts of a more olive 

 tint, and the outer wing-coverts barred with white, while the throat, centre of the 

 breast, and abdomen are of a dull white tinged with brown. The downy nestling 

 is black, [w. P. P.] 



2. Distribution. In the British Isles this species is decidedly local as a 

 breeding species, though not uncommon in some of our marshy districts, such as 

 the Norfolk Broads. Its status, however, is not easy to ascertain, owing to its 

 skulking habits in summer. It occurs in Anglesey, and breeds in the Isle of Man, 

 and apparently also in the Inner and Outer Hebrides, as well as in the midland and 

 eastern counties of the Scottish mainland, but there is no proof as yet of its nesting 

 injihe Orkneys or Shetlands, while in Ireland it is resident, and, according to 

 Ussher, commoner than is generally supposed. Outside the British Isles a few 

 are known to breed in Iceland, and on the Continent its range extends in Norway 

 nearly to the Arctic Circle and in Sweden to Gefle, while there are a few breeding 



