114 love's meinie. 



body is " in all these Rails compressed^'' (Yarrell, 

 — he means laterally thin), which enables them 

 to make their way through dense herbage with 

 facility. I can't find anything clear about its 

 country, except that it * occasionally visits ' 

 Sweden in summer, and Smyrna in winter, 

 and that it has been found in Corfu, Sicily, 

 Crete, — Whittlesea Mere, — and Yarley Fen ; 

 — in marshes always, wherever it is ; (nothing 

 said of its behaviour on ice,) and not generally 

 found farther north than Cumberland. Its 

 food is rather nasty — water-slugs and the like, 

 — but it is itself as fat as an ortolan, " almost 

 melts in the hand." (Gould.) Its own colour, 

 brown spotted with white ; " the spots on the 

 wing coverts surrounded with black, which 

 gives them a studded or pearly appearance." 

 (Bewick, — he means by ' pearly,' rounded or 

 projecting.) Hence my specific epithet. Its 

 young are of the liveliest black, "little balls 

 of black glistening down," beautifully put by 

 Mr. Gould among the white water Crowfoot 

 (Ranunculus Aquatilis), looking like little 

 ducklings in mourning. " Its nest is made of 

 rushes and other buoyant materials matted 

 together, so as to float on, and rise or fall 



