In the Neighbourhood of Salisbury. 241 



newly-hatched brood of these birds, and it was most interesting to 

 watch the devices of the old birds, who practised every conceivable 

 art to draw you off from their funny little black-coated brood, just 

 as the Partridge and the Wild Duck, the Plover and the Reed 

 Bunting will often do. 



Rallus; Aquaticus. " Water Rail/' or " Velvet Runner/' as it is 

 sometimes called, taking the place of the Land Rail in wet and 

 marshy places. Scattered generally over our water-meadows, but 

 more often met with in the winter than in the summer months. I 

 have never found its nest in our district, though often looking for 

 it, but I have no doubt it breeds with us, as the nest is generally so 

 cleverly hidden, that it is a rare thing to find it at any time. They 

 run so persistently, and lie so close, that they may now and then be 

 captured with the hand, I have had two of them brought alive to- 

 me in this way. On October 11th, 1869, a jet black specimen was 

 shot in the New Forest, by the Rev. A. F. Gurney; and on June 

 * 16th, 1882, a very curiously-marked one was killed, having its back 

 and wings white, freckled with dark spots, while its breast and head 

 were of a blackish colour. This bird was killed at Wareham, by a 

 Mr. Hutchings, and a very curious looking bird it was, as I can 

 testify, having seen it in Hart's museum. The egg is very like 

 that of the Land Rail, but the birds are not at all similar, except, 

 perhaps, in the markings on the back. The beak, especially, is 

 very different in the two birds. 



Crex Porzana. " Spotted Crake." A bird, I believe, far more 

 frequently occurring than is commonly supposed, but which, from 

 its skulking habits is rarely flushed, and when obtained, sometimes 

 not recognised, or not sufficiently known to be recorded. I shot 

 one when I was at Oxford, just below the Sandford Lasher, thinking 

 it was an ordinary Water Rail, and knew not my prize until I took 

 it out of the retriever's mouth, who had brought it from the opposite 

 side of the river. In 1869 a pair were killed at Hinks-Mill pond 

 in Mere parish in the autumn of 1869, by Mr. Forward; and on 

 October 12th, 1878, another specimen was killed in the very same 

 field as the pair before-mentioned. In October, 1873, one was 

 picked up dead at Gillingham, having been killed by flying against 



