feeding it with bits of raw meat. In' a day ortwo it' became
perfectly tainey and would eat out of his hand. He kept it:
till his return to England, and left it at Portsmouth in the
ship in charge of his servant, intending, at. a future time, to
give the bird its liberty in the marshes there; but, in conse-r
quenee pf neglect from the servant, the bird died.
The food of this, sp e c if is worms, snails, slugs, withr somd
vegetables. Dr. Fleming mentions having seen the stomach
of one"that was filledj&clusively with the young snails of
Helix lucida. One,pf these birds, which Mr. Selby kept for
some time, Was fed entirely with earth-worms, upon vhich fit
continued 11'thrive, till an "accident quit, an end tcjUts life.
I t refused bread and the» »larger kinds of grain. In confuted
ment this bird is" observed d&j&k l i p tail up while walking,
like the Common Moor-hen; and I hive:heard.of one that hail
nofaf conquered its timidity a r to,have,become pugnacious.'.
Mr. Paget says the Water Rail is common dnithu marshes
of N orfolk; and Montagu observes, that “ the nestds ratelyf
found; i t is made of sedge and coarse grass, amongst the
thickest aquatic plants^; sometimSin- willoy^bedA - In such
a situatiohi we found -one with six dggg&pf a spotless white,
and very smooth, ra-ther larger than those of a Blackbird;
the shape a short oval, with, both ends nearly alike.”- I have;
found the .eggs of the Water Rail very difficult to&obtain,
and never possessed but two, one from Norfolk,» and one from
.Cambridgeshire, and never saw more than three,-, or four
others'; these, were all very much alike, of a cream-coloured
white; with' small-specks of ash-grey and reddish brown; the:
length ofthe egg one inch four lines, by ..one inch in breadth.
The egg is very Correctly figured by Mr. Hewitson in his work;
M, Nilsson says the Water Rail is rare in Sweden ; but
it annually visits atlso Norway, the Faroe Islands, and Iceland.
In these countries, ,of course, .it is. only | summer
visiter, as in the winter all the-usual places of resort for food
would be frozen up. In our own country the greater portion
probably rCmain all the year ; in proof of which Dr. Fleming
mentions having obtained this species three times in winter,
—twice in the month of November, and once in January. I
haye also bought the Water Rail, among other winter-killed
birds, in the London markets, and found the flesh excellent,
but little inferior to thatvQf the Landrail, The specimen
from which, tfie. figure and description' here given were taken
was shot late in the month of November,
.. The Watet^Rail ipp abundant in Holland, Germany,
France, Switzerland, Provence, Spain, and Italy, A t Genoa
it'is said t d ^ c seen only when on its passage in April and
September. Pennant says it-is> common at Malta. Mr.
Strickland saw it at Smyrna; and M. Menetries includes
it among the birds seen'- by the ^naturalists of the Russian
expeditiojMn’‘the country of the Caucasus.
' The beak of an adult male is red, one inch and three-
5qtiarters in length ; the Trides hazel ; top oi the head, neck,
back, wing-coverts, and. upper surface of the body generally,
o'liye-brown; each feather nearly black in the centre, with
broad margins ; primaries ; dusky; tail-feathers also dusky,
with olive-brown margins; cheeks, chin, sides and front of
the neck, and the breast, lead-grey; the sides ' and flanks
dark slate-grey barred with white ; yent buff colour; under
tail-coverts dull -.whitelegs and toes brownish flesh colour.
The whole length eleven inches and a half. From the carpal
joint to the end of the wing four inches and three-quarters.
The sexes do not differ in plumage, but the beak of the
.female is shorter than that of the male, and not so red.
! Young birds have the feathers of the neck and breast edged
with pale brown, forming transverse bars; the flanks and
thighs not so dark in colour, and without the white bands.
A variety of the Water Rail has been taken which was
pure white.