244



Mr. P. W. Fakmborough,



endure severe cold and will stand an English winter without

any protection, or shelter.


They usually have only one young one, and there is a

popular superstition in India that they mate only once in their

lives and pine if the pair bird is killed or dies. On this ground

they are held more or less sacred and not usually shot. The

young are caught and tamed.


The Sams is not so noisy as its relative the Australian, or

the Common European Crane.


To give an idea of size, I may mention that the cross wire

appearing on a level with the bird’s head in the photo is 4ft. 6iu.

from the ground.



THE BRITISH RAILS.


By Percy W. Fakmborough, F.Z.S.


My friend Dr. B-utler has been good enough to honour me

with a request for an article this mouth, and in deference to his

wish I offer these remarks on the two species of British Rails that

most people are more familiar with than the other kinds, but

which, still for all that, they do not often take the trouble to

keep in captivity.


During the past three years, through the kindness of a

friend who is possessed of a small well-sheltered pond—a house

agent would describe it as an “extensive lake”—in a secluded

estate some few miles from a railway line, I have been able to study

many of the different shore or wading birds, as well as many

ethers which do not, strictly speaking, come within this category.

Although during the past ten or twelve years I have taken up

mammalian pets more than others I have not entirely neglected

my feathered friends, and any creature that can reasonably be

called “ uncommon ” has always possessed a greater interest than

those others which are usually kept in captivity.


The Corn Crake (Land Rail) and the Water Rail are both

common birds in this country, and yet very few people seem to

see either, and still fewer ever take sufficient interest in them to

keep one or the other in confinement. The first, if not often

seen, is frequently heard, for its call of “ crek-cre-ek-k ” is one



