LAND-RAIL. 
221 
abdomen isabelline, as well as the upper tail-coverts ; sides ot 
upper breast brown, with a few white b.ys; flanks sandy- 
rufous or rufous-brown, the feathers tipped and barred with 
isabelline or whitish ; sides of vent barred with darker brown , 
thighs sandy-rufous; shorter under tail-coverts barred with 
rufous and brown ; under wing-coverts and axillaries bright 
chestnut ; quills below brown, rufescent along the inner edge ; 
bill, feet, and claws pale brown; iris hazel. Total length, 
lo inches; culmen, o'Ss ; wing, 5'6 ; tail, I'g; tarsus, r 45. 
Adult Female.- Similar to the male, and having the same grey 
on the eyebrow, face, and breast. Total length, 9 inches, 
wing, 5 '2. 
Adult in Winter Plumage.— As in summer, but instead of the 
grey on the eyebrow, sides of face, and breast, these parts are 
all ochreous brown, and the sides of the body are decidedly 
more rufescent, with distinct and broad bars of black on the 
flanks and under tail-coverts; the wing-coverts also have 
distinct whitish bars, particularly on the greater series, where 
these bars have blackish or dusky margins. 
Young after First Monlt.-Similar to the winter plumage of 
the adults, and lacking the grey on the face and breast, mid 
having the sides of the body nearly uniform tawny, with a few 
dusky bars and whitish tips to the feathers. 
Nestling. — Covered with black down. 
Range in Great Britain.— This Rail is found throughout the 
British Islands from the south to the north, including the 
Hebrides, the Orkneys, and Shetlands. In Ireland, Mr. 
Ussher says it breeds commonly in every part except the 
mountains, nesting even in some of the islands, such as 
Innishbofin. In the home counties of England, however, there 
is a decided decrease in the number of Land- Rails eveiy 
summer, which it is difficult to account for. At Cooklnam, for 
instance, in the Thames valley, the bird seldom visits us, 
though the hay-fields are the same and its haunts absolutely 
unchanged from the days when it was always present, thirty 
years ago. I am speaking of my brother-in-law s estate, m 
which no change has taken place. In the neighbourhood of 
London, no doubt, the vast increase of building must account 
