Rai. GRALLATORES. RALLUS. 173 
peculiar haunts of this and other members of the Rallide@ are 
in consequence more completely frozen up, and the supplies 
of food more effectually cut off than they ever are in our 
island. ‘The haunts of the Rail are marshes, pools, and wa- 
ter-courses, particularly such as are covered or bordered with 
dense aquatic herbage and reeds, in which it finds shelter 
and refuge, being enabled, by the narrow form of its head 
and body, to pass through the closest beds of these plants 
with great rapidity. ‘To the above property is owing its 
principal security, as, when forced upon wing, its flight is 
awkward and slow, with the legs hanging down, and offering 
an easy aim to the sportsman. Few dogs are able to force 
it into view, unless when taken by surprise, or before it has 
time to gain its retreat, which I have not unfrequently found 
to be the forsaken hole of a water-rat, or amidst the entangled 
roots of a stunted willow or alder-bush. When moving 
about undisturbed, or in search of food, it often flirts up its 
tail, similar to the Water-Hen, exposing the cream-white un- 
der-coverts of that part. It occasionally swims, or (as W11- 
LOUGHBY expressively terms it) walks in the water, travers- 
ing the pools, or crossing the brooks, upon whose margins it 
resides. When disturbed, it will occasionally run along the 
surface of the water, supported by the floating herbage, for 
which purpose its feet are well adapted, covering, upon ex- 
pansion, a large disk. It can also dive with readiness, to 
which method of escape it sometimes resorts, as I have ex- 
perienced in several instances.— Worms, slugs, and insects, Food. 
are its food, to which may be added the leaves and seeds of 
particular aquatic plants. One of these birds which I kept 
for some time, was fed entirely with earth-worms, upon which 
it continued to thrive, till an accident put an end to its hfe. 
It refused bread, and the larger kinds of grain.—In conse- 
quence of the retired spots chosen for nidification (being 
always amidst the thickest herbage of its haunts), the nest Nest, &c. 
is rarely found. Monracu mentions having discovered one 
in a willow-bed, which was composed of sedge and coarse 
