2i8 ALLEN'S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



obscure dusky bars; outer wing-coverts with narrow white 

 bars. 



Nestling. Covered with black down. 



Range in Great Britain. The Water- Rail nests in nearly every 

 county of England, Wales, and Scotland, where suitable locali- 

 ties exist. It is rarer in the latter kingdom, and breeds 

 sparsely, but Mr. Robert Read has recorded its eggs from 

 Fossil Marsh, near Glasgow. In Ireland, Mr. Ussher says that 

 it is reported to nest in every county. A considerable migra- 

 tion southward appears to take place in winter ; but the species 

 has been known to stay during the latter season in the Shet- 

 lands. 



Range outside the British Islands. The present species is resi- 

 dent and breeds in most of the countries of Europe, excepting 

 the extreme northern parts, being resident in Norway near 

 Bergen, and ranging nearly up to the Arctic circle, while it 

 has also occurred on Jan-Mayen, and is believed to be resident 

 in Iceland. Its eastward range extends to Turkestan and 

 Afghanistan, and it visits North-western India in the winter, 

 occurring as far east as the Nepal Terai. In Eastern Siberia, 

 Japan, and China, J?. indicus takes its place, and this species 

 migrates south, visiting Southern China, and the Burmese 

 Provinces, and extending west to the district of Calcutta and 

 to Oudh. 



Habits. The Water-Rail, like most of its relations, is a very 

 shy bird, and one whose habits are most difficult to study in 

 consequence. It takes flight most unwillingly, and trusts to 

 its legs for safety. Even in the thickest of brakes it can twist 

 and turn with great rapidity, while its peculiarly compressed and 

 slender body enables it to thread its way through the grass and 

 rushes at a high rate of speed. One which I shot at Avington, 

 in November, gave me a lot of trouble to secure. Our party 

 was returning from duck-shooting in the water meadows, when 

 I saw the retriever running along the side of a hedge-row, with 

 a deep ditch of water on the side nearest to me. I crept up, 

 thinking that he was after a wounded Duck, but for some time I 

 could see nothing of his quarry. At last I could make out 



