early jiart of October, a friend of mine bagged lOi couple in one day to bis own gun. A very curious 
and most unusual pled variety of this bird was killed recently at Lingwood, in this county.” 
The following description of the nest of this species was published by Mr. John Smith, of Yarmouth, in 
the ‘Annals of Natural History,’ vol. ii. p. 78: — “The bird had selected for her nest a thick tuft of long- 
grass, hollow at the bottom, on the side of the reed-pond ; the nest, about an inch and a half thick, was com- 
j)osed of withered leaves and rushes ; it was so covered by the top of the grass, that neither bird, nest, nor 
eggs could be seen ; the entrance to and from the nest was through an aperture of the grass directly into 
the reeds opposite, where any one could stand to see the nest. The length of the eggs, on an average, were 
one inch and a half, some near a tenth more, others near a tenth less ; weight seven drachms ; colour light 
cream, thickly spotted at the larger ends with bright rusty red intermixed with sunk faint lilac spots, thinly 
and finely spotted at the lesser ends with the same colours, with a blush of pink over the whole egg, but 
more towards the lesser ends ; the yelk a bright blood-red, brighter than that of any egg I ever opened ; and 
I think that the pink tint of the shell is OAving to the redness of the yelk, for after emptyinjj the eggs it was 
hardly perceptible. On the 20th of June I found another nest in the same reed-pond, built among the reeds, 
and very near the water. On the lOth of July I obtained a third nest from the same place, of eleven eggs, 
within two or three days of hatching, the nest and situation much like the last.” 
I am indebted to Mr. H. Smither, of Churt, for the examples of the young figured in my Plate, and which 
he Informs me were taken from the edge of Frencham ponds, the nest in which they were placed being in a 
sedgetolt, as they are there called, a tall mass of sedge, sometimes two or three feet high, surrounded with 
water. 
When moving about in security in search of food, the Water-Rail often flirts uj) its tail, and exposes the 
large creamy-white under-coverts ; it swims and dives with readiness, and occasionally runs over the surface 
of the water, supported by the floating herbage, for traversing which its widely expanding feet are well 
adapted. Worms, slugs, insects, shelled mollusks, and the leaves and seeds of certain aquatic plants are 
doubtless the principal articles of its diet; but that it partakes of many other things is certain. Mr. Bond 
informs me that a friend of his, who had some Water-Rails cooked Snipe-fashion (that is, with their trails 
in them), when they came to table, found a small Shrew-mouse in one of them. In this habit of feeding 
occasionally on small animals the Water-Rail assimilates to the Moorhen, which, on reference to my account 
of that species, will be found to live upon birds, animals, and many other objects it is not supposed to eat. 
A Water-Rail kept alive by Mr. Selby for some time was fed entirely upon earth-worms, upon which it con- 
tinued to thrive until an accident deprived it of life ; and that it will readily live in confinement is further 
proved by an example which has been in the Gardens of the Zoological Society for a considerable period. 
Upper surface, secondaries nearest the body and tail olive brown, streaked with blackish brown down the 
middle of each feather ; spurious wing, primaries, and outermost secondaries dusky olive-broAvn ; chin 
greyish white; necUand breast dull greyish blue; abdomen and inner part of the thighs cream-coloured; 
larger wing-coverts and flanks barred with black and white ; under tail-coverts creamy white, the smaller 
feathers barred with black ; irides reddish brown ; upper mandible olive, lower mandible and gape bright 
red ; legs light reddish brown, toes somewhat darker. 
The Plate represents a male and female, and a brood of young ones two or three days old, all of the 
natural size. 
