on the British Rails.



247



After being turned in a few days they became quite wild

again, as is the case with many birds when turned into a large en¬

closure. They however ate all the food that was put in for them,

and although smaller than the Water Rails which were also in

the aviary, would not let the latter feed from the dish at the same

time but drove them away every time they approached the food

vessel. Both kinds of Rails fed on the same food, which, was

rather a messy looking mixture of bread and milk (the bread

being wetted only just enough to crumble up niceljq), ants’ eggs,

mealworms, a little raw meat and a couple of raw eggs broken

over all and mixed tip. There were plenty of slugs, snails, and

worms to be found in the enclosure and these no doubt eked out

the food supply.


I was not down at the farm in the September of that year,

but word was sent to me that the Rand Rails were extremely

restless and that one had severely battered itself against the net¬

work ; in the following month I saw the birds and two were

extremely wild and evidently suffering from a bad attack of

migratory fever; the other two fairly quiet. The restless ones

were damaging themselves considerably about the head and

shoulders and so I thought it better to let them go whilst they

could still fly properly, so I caught them and released them out¬

side the aviary. They flew away strongly and I trust were

strong enough to reach Africa safely. The other two passed

through the winter safely and commenced their characteristic

call in March.


One thing that struck me was the habit of bathing in the

shallow water at the edge of the lake, a matter which seemed to

give them great pleasure judging from the whole-hearted manner

with which they performed the operation. There were some very

small fishes in the lake and it was most amusing to watch the

Crakes run along the edge of the water chasing the “tiddlers,”

usually unsuccessfully, but occasionally their exertions were

rewarded by the capture of one of the “ laggards.”


(To be continued).



