On a Hampshire Common 173 



and fluttered about almost within reach of my 

 nine-foot rod. Presently I came upon the 

 young, who were well able to look after 

 themselves; they fled across the river in a 

 long line, with swiftness and decision, their 

 mother clamorously bringing up the rear, 

 and seeming almost to push some of them 

 into the rushes on the opposite bank. It was 

 all so unnecessary ! The water-rail some- 

 times resorts to the same device of feigning 

 to be injured. One which I flushed close to 

 the road in a very boggy spot deceived me 

 for a few seconds. She had a nest close at 

 hand, I felt sure, in one of the great firm 

 ' mats,' as the country-people call the tufts of 

 dry grass in the marsh; but I searched in 

 vain. The water-rail brings up, it is stated, 

 two broods every season. It is very pleasant 

 to find this bird so much at home, and so 

 almost abundant, by the Test — I flushed three 

 in one day — for it is getting terribly scarce, 

 even in some of its strongholds and watery 

 fastnesses. ' I believe,' writes an authority 

 on bird life in the Broads, ' that the water- 



