262 THE WATER RAIL. 



yellow iris. Concealed by the vegetation, it there pursues its 

 avocations, never venturing into the open fields or pastures, and 

 seldom rising on the wing, even when closely pressed, but running 

 with great celerity, and threading its way through the most ap- 

 parently impenetrable thickets of reeds. When forced to take 

 wing, it flies slowly and rather awkwardly, with its legs dangling, 

 and seldom proceeds far, but alights and skulks. Unlike the 

 Corn Crake, which greatly resembles it in habits, it remains with 

 us all the year. Its food consists of worms, slugs, helices, 

 lymneae, insects, and seeds of gramineae." 



No one seems to have noted anything special about its habits ; 

 it is said to have " a rather* loud clear cry, resembling the 

 syllable ' creek', which it seems to utter when on the wing, 

 especially during the season of passage ; and, besides this, the 

 bird often calls his mate with a sharp whistle resembling the 

 sound produced by drawing a switch quickly through the air. 



" It swims with ease and grace, and when on the water 

 resembles the Water-Hen, elevating its tail and jerking its head 

 as it paddles along. Naumann states that it will occasionally 

 perch on a low bough of a tree. It is a very unsociable bird, 

 and is seldom found otherwise than singly or in pairs even on 

 passage." 



I DO NOT believe that this species breeds within our limits, 

 though it possibly may do so in Kashmir. Dresser says : — 



" It breeds in damp, swampy localities, and conceals its nest 

 with great care. This latter, which resembles that of the small 

 Crakes, is placed above the water or marsh, and is constructed 

 on the bent leaves or stems of sedge or rushes, but seldom 

 resting on the ground itself. It is a loosely-made structure, 

 formed of dried leaves of aquatic plants, tolerably large, and 

 contains eight or ten, or sometimes even more, eggs ; and the 

 young birds are able to leave the nest soon after they are 

 hatched, and, like those of the Land-Rail, are very expert 

 in hiding when disturbed and danger threatens. Colonel 

 Irby, who has taken the eggs of the Water Rail in Spain, 

 writes : — ' They build in rushes or sedges, laying about the 

 20th of April. On the 13th of May we found two nests, from 

 each of which Mr. Stork succeeded in snaring one of the old 

 birds ; these nests, built entirely of dry sedge, and lined with a few 

 bits of dry grass, were just raised above the water, and measured 

 6 inches in height, depth, and diameter ; the hollow of the nest 

 was 4j inches across by 2J deep. Each nest contained seven 

 eggs much incubated — one lot being of the usual type, the 

 other resembling more those of the Spotted Crake, or, rather, 

 looking like miniature Water-Hen's eggs with larger blotches 

 than usual.' 



* Dresser. 



