180 RALLID.E 



always well hidden from view, and is often difficult of 

 approach, owing to the soft nature of the surrounding 

 quagmire. 



The eggs, seven to eleven in number, are of a very pale 

 buff, finely spotted and flecked with reddish-brown and grey, 

 the specks being much more confined to the larger end than 

 in the eggs of the Corn-Crake. Incubation begins about the 

 end of April. 



The Water-Rail breeds in most of the swamps of the 

 British Isles. It is especially plentiful on the Norfolk 

 ' Broads ; ' in Ireland, where the bird is not at all well- 

 known, it is quite a common breeding-species. 



Geographical distribution. Abroad, it nests over a 

 large area of the European Continent, including Iceland 

 and the north of Norway. It occasionally wanders with- 

 in the Arctic Circle, a specimen having been obtained 

 as far north as Jan Mayen,on October 15th, 1882 (Saunders). 

 It also breeds in Western and Central Asia, in North Africa, 

 and when on migration in winter, it travels as far as Egypt 

 and Abyssinia. 



DESCRIPTIVE CHARACTERS. 



PLUMAGE. 1 Adult male nuptial. Top of head, back of 

 neck, back, and wings, olive-brown with dark streaks ; 

 primaries, mouse-brown ; cheeks, front and sides of neck, 

 and breast, dull slate-grey ; chin, light greyish ; flanks, 

 blackish, barred transversely with white ; this barring is 

 more noticeable than the brown and buff stripes on the 

 flanks of the Corn-Crake ; abdomen and under tail-coverts, 

 light buff ; tail, dusky-brown. 



Adult female nuptial. Similar to the male plumage but 

 duller in colour ; sometimes shows white bars on the wings. 



Adult winter, male and female. Resembles the nuptial 

 plumages, but browner in shade, and the flanks and thighs 

 are washed with fulvous-brown ; throat, nearly white. 



Immature, male and female. The back and wings have 



1 Note. Messrs. Williams and Son, of Dublin, record a specimen 

 shot near the city of Dublin on November 13th, 1902, which was entirely 

 black except the barred feathers on the sides and the under tail-coverts, 

 which were dull white, beak and feet black, eyes, dark brown. Messrs. 

 Williams and Son state that they have seen white and cream-coloured 

 varieties, but the above is the first instance of melanism met with 

 during thirty years' experience ('Zoologist,' 1902, p. 467). 



