554 BRITISH BIRDS. 



in the first week of April. It is probable that two broods may occasionally 

 be reared, as eggs have been taken as late as July. 



In the fen-countries it is still a common bird. In the middle of May 

 three years ago I spent a day or two in the Norfolk broads with my 

 friends Mr. Howard Saunders and Mr. Arthur H. Evans. We placed our- 

 selves under the guidance of a well-known marshman of the name of 

 Joshua. Leaving Hickling Broad we punted down the stream across 

 Higham Sounds, and landed on the bank of the river further on, where 

 Joshua had marked for us the nest of a Water-Rail. We found ourselves 

 in the middle of an ocean of reeds, most of them in a dense mass, just 

 covered at the roots with water, but some more thinly sprinkled over 

 rougher ground, and almost choked with sedges, rushes, and coarse rank 

 vegetation of other kinds. The nest was admirably concealed, and with all 

 our care we only caught a momentary glimpse of the bird as she dis- 

 appeared. Such a nest can only be found by accident. The perfect 

 silence of the bird, the quiet way in which she slips off the nest and 

 threads her way amongst the sedge and reeds, and the absolute conceal- 

 ment of the nest itself, which cannot be seen until the vegetation which 

 hangs over it is pulled aside, make it an almost hopeless task to try and 

 find a nest in such extensive reed-beds. The nest was about a foot from the 

 ground, but had a solid foundation under it, formed by the roots of the 

 clump of rushes in the. midst of which it was built. It was carefully made 

 of flat sedge and the flat leaves of the reed, lined with dry broken pieces 

 of round slender reeds, and contained five eggs. In spite of the difficulty 

 of finding the nests of this bird, the indefatigable Joshua had a second nest 

 marked for us not very far off, but on the other side of the river. This 

 nest was more favourably situated for obtaining a sight of the bird, as the 

 clump of tangled reeds and rushes in which it was concealed only covered 

 five or six square yards and was surrounded by almost bare swamp. To 

 secure a sight of the bird we each approached the nest from different sides ; 

 but, as before, we only caught a momentary glimpse of her as she slunk 

 from the nest. We remained standing round the clump for some time, 

 during which she was skulking in the herbage. At last we succeeded in 

 driving her out, when she attempted to make a run across the naked part 

 of the swamp. Saunders was standing a few yards further off than we 

 were, and by chance she ran into his arms, or rather into his legs, where- 

 upon she instantly took wing and flew right away, with legs hanging down 

 as if anxious to alight at the first possible opportunity. Her flight was 

 not very quick but very straight ; in fact she would have been an easy 

 shot. She dropped into the reeds at about sixty yards distance, not having 

 uttered a note during the whole time. The nest was quite as perfectly 

 concealed as the former one, and did not differ from it in construction ; it 

 also contained five eggs. 



