VI 



WA 



RAIL 



small and retiring bird is one of those species 

 which is seldom seen. For the best part of my life 

 I have lived in a locality where the birds have bred, 

 but only once have I been privileged to see one. I 

 have known men who were keen bird-watchers, and 

 have been for many years in haunts where the Water Rail was 

 common, and yet they could not boast of having once seen a 

 specimen. My photograph was taken on the marshy margin 

 of a quiet Middlesex brook, a county in which the bird might be 

 called rare. 



The Water Rail is a remarkable bird. If it knows that an 

 intruder is in its haunt, it will creep through the long grass or reeds, 

 and do its best to elude us, but if we once really see the bird, or allow 

 it to find out that it cannot escape our gaze, it suddenly changes 

 from the cute, wary creature, into a seemingly fearless bird that 

 will allow us to pick it up and handle it freely. I should not like 

 to say that all Water Rails will do this, because I have not 

 had sufficient experience with them. But I have known such 

 instances, and I know that the bird here pictured behaved in this 

 remarkable manner. After taking a few photographs, I picked up 

 the bird, and it seemed quite at home in my hands. Then I 

 allowed it to fly,, but instead of making good its escape, it just 

 flew on for a few yards, squatted down by the water-side, and 



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