WATER RAIL. 127 



two it became perfectly tame, and would eat out of his 

 hand. ; 



The food of this species is worms, snails, slugs, with 

 some vegetables. Dr. Fleming mentions having seen the 

 stomach of one that was filled exclusively with the young 

 snails of Helix lucida. One of these birds, which Mr. 

 Selby kept for some time, was fed entirely with earth- 

 worms, upon which it continued to thrive, till an accident 

 put an end to its life. It refused bread and the larger 

 kinds of grain. In confinement this bird is observed to 

 jerk its tail up while walking, like the Common Moor-hen; 

 and I have heard of one that had so far conquered its 

 timidity as to have become pugnacious. 



Mr. Paget says the Water Rail is common in the 

 marshes of Norfolk ; and Montagu observes, that " the 

 nest is rarely found ; it is made of sedge and coarse 

 grass, amongst the thickest aquatic plants ; sometimes in 

 willow beds. In such a situation we found one with six 

 eggs, of a spotless white, and very smooth, rather larger 

 than those of a Blackbird ; the shape a short oval, with 

 both ends nearly alike." I have found the eggs of 

 the Water Rail very difficult to obtain, and never pos- 

 sessed but two, one from Norfolk, and one from Cam- 

 bridgeshire, and never saw more than three or four 

 others ; these were all very much alike, of a cream-coloured 

 white, with small specks of ash-grey and reddish brown ; 

 the length of the egg one inch four lines, by one inch in 

 breadth. The egg is very correctly figured by Mr. Hewit- 

 son in his work. 



M. Nilsson says the Water Rail is rare in Sweden ; but 

 it annually visits also Norway, the Faroe Islands, and Ice- 

 land. In these countries, of course, it is only a summer 

 visitor, as in the winter all the usual places of resort for 

 food would be frozen up. In our own country the greater 



