RAIL 763 



p. 82). The Land-Rail needs but a brief description. It looks about 

 as big as a Partridge, but on examination its appearance is found to 

 be very deceptive, and it will hardly ever weigh more than half as 

 much. The plumage above is of a tawny brown, the feathers 

 being longitudinally streaked with blackish-brown ; beneath it is 

 of a yellowish-white ; but the flanks are of a light chestnut. The 

 species is very locally distributed, and in a way for which there is 

 at present no accounting. In some dry upland and corn-growing 

 districts it is plentiful ; in others, of apparently the same character, 

 it but rarely occurs ; and the same may be said in regard to low- 

 lying marshy meadows, in most of which it is in season always to 

 be heard, while in others having a close resemblance to them it is 

 never met with. The nest is on the ground, generally in long 

 grass, and therein from nine to eleven eggs are commonly laid. 

 These are of a cream-colour, spotted and blotched with light red 

 and grey. The young when hatched are thickly clothed with 

 black down, as is the case in nearly all species of the Family. 



The WATER-RAIL, locally known by several names as Bilcock 

 or Skiddy, is the Eallus aquaticus of Ornithology, and seems to be 

 less abundant than the 

 preceding, though that is 

 in some measure due to 

 its frequenting places into 

 which from their swampy 

 nature men do not often 

 intrude. Having a general 



resemblance to the Land-Rail, 1 it can be in a moment distinguished 

 by its partly red and much longer bill, and the darker coloration of 

 its plumage the upper parts being of an olive-brown with black 

 streaks, the breast and belly of a sooty-grey, and the flanks dull 

 black barred with white. Its geographical distribution is very wide, 

 extending from Iceland (where it is said to preserve its existence 

 during winter by resorting to the hot springs) to China ; and though 

 it inhabits Northern India, Lower Egypt and Barbary, it seems not 

 to pass beyond the tropical line. It never affects upland districts 

 as does the Land-Rail, but always haunts wet marshes or the close 

 vicinity of water. Its love-note is a loud and harsh cry, not con- 

 tinually repeated as is that of the Land -Rail, but uttered at 

 considerable intervals and so suddenly as to have been termed 

 " explosive." Besides this, which is peculiar to the cock-bird, it 

 has a croaking call that is frog-like. The eggs resemble those -of 

 the preceding, but are more brightly and delicately tinted. 



1 Formerly it seems to have been a popular belief in England that the 

 Land- Rail in autumn transformed itself into a Water-Rail, resuming its own 

 character in spring. I have met with several persons of general intelligence 

 who had serious doubts on the subject. 



