THE WATER-RAIL. 
325 
On the 15th of September, 1832, I saw in a gunsmitVs shop 
in Belfast, one of these birds, which had been taken alive a day 
or two before. It was very expert at catching flies in the shop- 
window, running a tilt at them quite regardless of the presence of 
the stumbling-blocks which beset its path in the form of pistols, 
turn-screws, &c. When approached, this bird struck wickedly 
with its bill and feet, but never with its spurred wings.* 
The food, &c., contained in seven water-rails examined by me 
were — in March ^35 : a few seeds; the remains of a horse- 
leech; sand and gravel. — ^December ^35 : a few hard seeds and 
part of a broad-leaved plant. — January ^36 : two mo derate- sized 
specimens of the fresh-water shell Limneus palustris and a small 
Limneus pereger : — another in the same month ; a few seeds, some 
soft vegetable matter, and small gravel. — April ^36 : one filled with 
seeds and the remains of insects. — October '’37 : one filled with por- 
tions of shells of the genus Limneus, of which a purple fragment 
denoted L. palustris . — December '’37 : seeds, worms, a perfect 
insect and larvrn, with the addition of gravel. 
A water-rail, fed on portions of bullocFs head chopped small, 
lived in fine health and plumage for two years in the Koyal 
Zoological Gardens, Phoenix Park, Dublin.f 
Mr. Yarrell remarks, with reference to England, merely that 
this species is less numerous than the land-rail — in Ireland 
the relative difference of their numbers, considering the whole 
year, is probably as one water-rail to five hundred land-rails. 
Prom his description and that of other authors, in reference to 
England and Scotland, the water-rail seems fully as plentiful in 
Ireland as in either of those countries, perhaps more so than in 
Scotland. 
* The jacana is stated to use the spurs on its wings in fighting, 
t Mr. R. Ball. 
