R A L JL U S ' A Q U A T IC US , Li?in.
RALLUS AQUAT1CUS, Linn.
Water-Rail.
Ralhs aquatiau, Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 262.
I t is no easy task to write a life-like description of the W ater-Rail, its habits, and economy* We know that
it is a Shy, stealthy, active, running creature, in actions as much like a rat as a bird, and that it frequents
the sedge-covered sides o f our rivers, pools, and water-courses, particularly where tussocky grasses abound
and afford shelter for many other things beside this little dark-coloured bird, which threads the herbage with
facility, and bounds like a bail before the nose o f the Spaniel. This lath-like bird, which flies only to avoid
danger, or swims across the pool for a similar purpose, delights in a state of seclusion, and dwells all the
year round in low situations among tangled herbage, much after the manner of the Moorhen ( Gallinula
ehktropusy, to which it most closely assimilates in its mode of life and economy; but shy as that bird
may be, the Water-Rail is still more so, and hence it is very seldom seen o r heard. Its distribution
over the British Islands . is so general that it is found everywhere, from the Land’s End to the Islands
of Orkney and Shetland and the outermost Hebrides. I t is equally numerous in every p art of Europe,
Africa from north to south, India from the Himalayas throughout the peninsula, China, and Japan ;
yet widely as the bird is distributed, how seldom is it seen, and how few are the persons who have had a
close view o f it ! We know that it builds a slight nest o f leaves and strips o f flags, in a tuft of grass near
the edge o f the stream, lake, o r pond, and that it lays eight o r nine eggs, from which in due time
emerge a like number o f small black-downy nestlings; these tiny creatures scramble about the herbage
in the innermost recesses of the pool, and accompany their parents over the floating leaves o f the
Nymphtzee and other aquatic flowers, hunting with the utmost activity, from the minute they are born,
for the flies and other insects constituting their food. If, in the English waters, they escape the Pike,
and in the African lagoon the equally destructive Tortoise, they soon change their black downy livery
for feathers simitar in character ami colouring to those of their parents, both of which are alike in
their dress.
Were the sportsman to go oHt with the. express intention o f shooting a Water-Rail, the chances are that,
eight out o f ten times he would be disappointed ; yet I have known several killed in a day during thè
great Pheasant-iaWwcs in the low copses and ditchy covers o f Norfolk, Suffolk, and Lincolnshire : rarely,
however, does it take wing, even before a string o f beaters ; should it do so, it is for the last time, for it flies
straight and slowly, and it is therefore easily killed.
Unlike the Land-Rail, this bird is strictly indigenous in our islands, and consequently is to be found a t all
seasons ; but great accessions to the usual numbers arrive during the autumn months from the north, at
least this is the opinion o f Mr. Stevenson of Norwich, who has favoured me with the following note respecting
the bird as observed by him in Norfolk :—
“ The Water-Rail is common throughout the year, and is found in all moist situations, but, o f course,
most plentifully amongst the reed-beds and sedgy margins o f the broads, where it nests freely during the.
summer months. Yet, from the swampy nature o f the localities, but few eggs are taken in any season. It
ha* been doubtful whether this species remains in England during the winter ; but supposing even that
some portion o f those bred in our marshes proceed further south during sharp weather, others undoubtedly
still remain, and, like the common Waterhens, suffer very severely during sharp frosts. I have shot them,
both on the broads and by the river-side, when the ground has been covered with snow, and only a small
channel left unfrozen in the middle of the stream. Why these birds should remain with us a t such times,
to endure the privations >*f both hunger and cold, it is difficult to imagine, more particularly as flights from
more northern localities, proviug the migratory habits o f the species, undoubtedly visit us during the
autumn months. On mor< than one occasion, whilst Snipe-shooting at Surlingham, in October and
November, I have found unusual numbers o f these birds, and, after shooting two or three couple, have had
the greatest difficulty in calling off the dog and persuading him to devote his attention exclusively to the
8f;:p . At such times I have always discovered the Rails scattered over the drier marshes surrounding the
brand« and either winding their way between the tussocks o f grass or hidden in the dense undergrowth of
the sallow and alder bushes, whilst the flew that are met with a t other times are generally flushed by the
water’s edge o r from the sedges bordering a bed o f reeds. I have never known them to remain in these
number» for two successive days ; but like Woodcocks, resting after a long flight, they afford ample sport
at the time, and are soon off again on their southward journey.
“ As some proof o f the number that thus visit us, I may add that on one occasion a t Surlingham, in the