76 THE GAME BIRDS AND WILD FOWL 



Burma, East and South India, and Ceylon, in winter. Differs 

 from the Water Rail (from which it is probably only subspeci- 

 fically distinct) in having the slate-gray of the underparts more or 

 less suffused with brown, a brown streak below and behind the 

 eye, and the under tail coverts more barred with black ; it is also 

 shghtly larger than its Western representative. 



Time during which the Water Rail may be taken.— 

 August ist to March ist; otherwise by authority of owner or 

 occupier of land. 



Habits. — The Water Rail is another of those shy and 

 skulking birds which is apt to be looked upon as much rarer 

 than it really is, owing to its disinclination to be observed. There 

 are few marshes where the cover is dense that do not conceal 

 Water Rails in summer, but in winter, when much of the aquatic 

 vegetation dies down, its haunts are certainly more restricted. 

 The Water Rail is par excellence a bird of the reed-beds, amongst 

 which it spends most of the hours of daylight skulking from the 

 view of man and other enemies. It becomes most active towards 

 dusk, and may then be watched timidly straying from the reeds 

 on to the more exposed ground, or swimming out from the 

 aquatic cover into the open water. If surprised in these places 

 it will always try to escape by running on land with marvellous 

 adroitness through the tangled vegetation, or diving with an 

 audible flop under the water, and thence swimming below the 

 surface to a place of concealment. Its flight is heavy and 

 laboured, and the legs are allowed to hang down as if broken. 

 It is most unsociable and solitary in its habits, and save during 

 the breeding season almost invariably keeps to itself. The Water 

 Rail also indulges in the singular habit of flying about the air at 

 night, often in circles, occasionally uttering its shrill harsh note, 

 which Naumann describes as a melodious kreek. The call-note 

 during the breeding season is a shrill whit, but likened by other 

 observers to a groaning cry, locally known as " sharming," most 

 frequently uttered at night. The food of the Water Rail consists 

 of insects and their larvae, snails, worms, the buds and shoots 

 of aquatic vegetation, and small seeds. Like the Corn Crake, 

 this species has been known to alight in the branches of trees. 

 Nidification. — It is not improbable that the Water Rail 



