458 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



the necessity was that compelled it to emigrate southwards in winter, whilst 

 the Water Rail can manage to exist with us throughout the year. On 

 consulting the most recent ornithological works in my possession (e.g., 

 Yarrell, 4th ed., Seebohm, and Backhouse), I found that the Land Rail has 

 the most northern geographical range, exceeding that of the Spotted Rail 

 by about 2°, and that of the Water Rail by about 5°. This would lead one 

 to suppose that the Land Rail was the more hardy and the Water Rail the 

 more delicate bird of the trio. But this order seems to be reversed with us. 

 In the winter Water Rails are common residents, Spotted Rails seldom 

 found, and Land Rails occurring less frequently still. This fact would go 

 to prove that not want of warmth, but want of food is the prime cause of 

 migration. The Land Rail being less strictly insectivorous— or, perhaps, 

 I should say more graminivorous — than the Water Rail or Spotted Rail, 

 its food supply is more readily affected by low temperature than theirs 

 would be. And although the Water Rail and Spotted Rail frequent the 

 same localities, the greater length of beak in the former would enable 

 it to procure food which the latter could not reach. Therefore Rallus 

 aquaticus remains with us after Porzana maruetta has departed, because its 

 food (consisting of aquatic insects and their larvae, &c.) is not so subject to 

 the effects of frost or flood. According to the latest published account of 

 the Birds of Norfolk (Mr. Southwell's list in « White's Norfolk 'for 1890), 

 the Land Rail is catalogued as a summer migrant, breeding here. The 

 Spotted Rail is described as a summer migrant, occasionally breeding here, 

 and the Water Rail as a resident receiving migratory additions in autumn 

 and winter. In the Broad district, from which I am writing, the Spotted 

 Rail is more common than the Land Rail, and more frequently breeds here. 

 A clutch of young Spotted Rails, hatched in this parish last year, were 

 unable to fly on August 29th. I amused myself for nearly an hour trying 

 to catch one of them, but, even with the aid of my old Retriever (who, 

 like many dogs, is very keen on the scent of a Rail), I was not able to 

 secure a single individual, although once or twice I had one almost in my 

 hands ; but plunging about knee-deep in water, with an uncertain foot-hold 

 and amid rank vegetation, I had set myself no easy task, and, as the day 

 was hot, I was glad that I had divested myself of my coat before I com- 

 menced operations. Mr. Seebohm and other authors mention the unsoci- 

 ability of Crakes and Rails ; let me give you three instances of exceptions 

 to prove this rule (others may be found in ' Booth's Rough Notes '). During 

 the hard weather of the winter of 1878 — 79 I shot twenty-three Water 

 Rails in less than three weeks, from about half a mile of ditch, and then 

 left several. One day during that time I saw three cross a road (from the 

 ditch on one side to that on the other) together, or rather one after the 

 other in quick succession. In three days of September, 1885, my brother 

 and I flushed twelve and killed ten Land Rails, from two adjacent 



