BIRDS OF THE DISTRICT OF STAINES. 387 



a very short space. It is noteworthy that these are always 

 females. 



Common Partridge (Perclix cinerea) . — Well distributed.through- 

 out the district. 



Bed-legged Partridge (Caccabis rufa). — Of the rarest occur- 

 rence only. 



Land-Bail (Crex pratensis). — The numbers of this bird vary 

 considerably from year to year. The great June flood of 1903 

 swept over acres and acres of meadow-land, and destroyed the 

 nests of all ground-breeding birds, besides working havoc among 

 the ditch- and low-bush-breeding Warblers. The Land-Bail was 

 one of the greatest sufferers from this visitation, yet, curiously 

 enough, the following year seemed to bring more than the usual 

 number of the birds. 



Spotted Crake (Porzana maruetta) . — Laleham, 1857 (vide 

 Harting's 'Birds of Middlesex,' p. 205). I have not met with 

 the bird myself, but there is still much country well suited 

 for it. 



Water-Bail (Rallus aquaticus). — Barely seen, but there must 

 be a good many along the river-banks, as men employed in 

 cleaning out the bottoms of osier-beds have frequently brought 

 me the eggs. The latter, besides being larger and of a lighter 

 ground than the Land-Bail's, also seem to be of thinner shell. 



Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus). — Very common along the 

 river-banks. An excellent climber, and I have often seen it 

 moving about in high hedges with great ease. It is adverse to 

 taking to the wing, but can run at great speed. The Moorhen 

 has a great variety of calls, and is frequently heard late in the 

 night. The nest is sometimes placed fifteen or twenty feet from 

 the ground in the crown of some willow-tree, but is more usually 

 among reeds, or on a low branch of some bush just over the 

 water. The eggs are not covered over when the bird is absent 

 from the nest. A large number of weed collections are made 

 quite distinct from the nest, and what object they serve I have 

 not satisfactorily discovered. I call these collections " stands," 

 for I think the bird must use them to rest on, and probably sleep 

 on. Up to the present the Moorhen has not been observed on 

 the reservoir ! 



Coot (Fulica air a). — Very rarely seen on our part of the river, 



