80 THE GAME BIEDS AND WILD FOWL 



with brown, black lores, a brown streak below and behind the eye, and the under 

 tail coverts more barred with black. It is also slightly larger than its western 

 representative. 



Habits. — The Water Eail is another of those shy and skulking birds which arc 

 apt to be looked upon as rarer than they really are, 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 Eail is par excellence 

 a bird of the reed-beds, amongst which it spends most of the hours of daylight, 

 shrinking 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 v^ith 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 unsociable and solitary in its habits, and save 

 during the breeding season almost invariably keeps to itself. The Water Eail 

 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 

 Jcreek. 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 Eail consists of insects and their larvte, 

 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. 



Nidif ication. — It is not improbable that the Water Eail mates for life, and 

 each pair of birds appear to keep to a certain spot, from which they wander little 

 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 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-grey. They measure 

 on an average 1"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 



