OF THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 77 



mates for life, and each pair of birds appear to keep to a certain 

 spot from which they wander httle during the entire breeding 

 season. This begins early, eggs having been known in the first 

 week of April ; although the more usual period is about a month 

 later. The nest is made amongst the aquatic vegetation on the 

 bank of the pool or under the arching shelter of a tuft of rushes 

 and reeds. It is a most difficult nest to find, and is far 

 more often stumbled upon by accident than found by design. 

 It is almost invariably well concealed, and is made of the stems 

 and flat leaves of reeds, and lined with bits of dry rush, and 

 perhaps a few dead leaves. The usual number of eggs is from 

 five to seven, although clutches of nine and eleven have been 

 found. They are pale buff or creamy white in ground colour, 

 somewhat sparsely spotted and speckled with reddish brown and 

 violet-gray. They measure on an average i "4 inch in length by 

 I'o inch in breadth. Incubation lasts about three weeks. The 

 bird sits .very closely, but notwithstanding she is rarely flushed 

 from the eggs, slipping quietly off them as soon as danger 

 threatens, gliding through the surrounding herbage, where she 

 skulks until all is safe again. The young chicks, clothed in jet- 

 black down, take to the water immediately, and are accompanied 

 by both parents. They may sometimes be seen running over 

 the broad floating leaves of the water-lily and the "candock." 

 It is probable that this species rears two broods in the year, as fresh 

 eggs are not unfrequently found in July, although, of course, 

 these may be the produce of birds whose earlier clutch had come to 

 grief. 



Diagnostic Characters. — Rallus, with the upper parts 

 olive-brown, streaked with darker brown, the underparts slate- 

 gray, shading into black on the abdomen, flanks, and axillaries, 

 all of which are barred with white. Length, 1 1 inches. 



