Part 41

The young are brown on the throat and breast. Length 13·5 in.; wing 6·22 in.

THE QUAIL Coturnix communis, Bonnaterre

This species is only a summer visitor to this country, though examples have been known to spend the winter with us. Never very abundant, it has of late years become decidedly scarcer, and can now only be considered an uncommon and local bird.

Delighting chiefly in dry, broken, uncultivated land, it becomes scarcer in the north, but has been known to nest as far north as Caithness. The nest is a "scrape" in the grass, and the seven to twelve eggs are yellowish white blotched with umber brown. The male has a melodious call-note, which may be syllabled as "clerk, lik, lik," to which the female answers with a soft "peu, peu." The food consists of grain, seeds, and insects, and at the times of migration this bird becomes exceedingly fat and very good eating. The Quails that are found in our markets are usually snared in Italy during the spring migration, and used to be sent alive to this country, but they are now killed and sent dead. It was a migration of this species that supplied the Children of Israel with food in the desert, and large flocks still pass through Palestine yearly on migration.

The Quail is not unlike a small Partridge, and is of a uniform sandy brown on the upper parts, with paler shafts to the feathers. The chin and throat are white, with two brown crescentic bars, and sometimes a brown streak down the centre. The breast is buffish and the under parts white. This species shows a certain amount of variation in minor details of plumage. Length 7 in.; wing 4·4 in.

THE LAND-RAIL Crex pratensis, Bechstein

Grass lands throughout England, Scotland, and Ireland form the summer home of this well-known and abundant species. It is a migrant, arriving towards the end of April and leaving our shores again in September, though a few individuals occasionally remain and pass the winter in Ireland and some of the western counties of England. It is always more abundant in the west, and during the last few years has become comparatively scarce and local in our eastern and south-eastern counties.

The Rails are birds of poor flight and skulking habits, rarely taking to their wings unless hard pressed, and even at such times flying but a short distance with legs hanging down, and soon dropping again into the nearest cover. Immediately on his arrival the male Land-Rail, or Corncrake as it is often called, utters his well-known crake--a harsh "craak, craak," repeated with monotonous frequency, especially during the long summer evenings and again before dawn.

The nest is placed in dense cover in the middle of some grass- or corn-fields; it is a deep "scrape," generally hollowed out by the cock, and lined with bents and grass. Eight to ten eggs are the usual clutch; they resemble those of the Missel Thrush, being greenish white, spotted and blotched with red, brown, and greyish. The male, who takes no part in the incubation, is very attentive to his mate, bringing her delicate tit-bits and accompanying her when she leaves the nest. Their food consists of worms, slugs, snails, and other insects, as well as grain and seeds, so that it is practically omnivorous. When the young are hatched the "craking" ceases, and both parents brood and tend the young. These when first hatched are jet black, and become fully feathered in about a month or five weeks, their wing feathers being the last to grow. Although they can run and leave the nest as soon as hatched, they do not feed themselves for some days, but take all their food from their parents' beaks. If the first clutch of eggs is destroyed the craking recommences, and a second clutch is laid.

During the autumn moult this species, in common with the others of its family, casts all its primaries at once, and is for about ten days incapable of flight.

In winter it is found throughout Africa as far south as Cape Colony.

In winter the sexes are practically identical, the upper parts being dark brown, with rufous edgings to the feathers; wing coverts chestnut; throat and abdomen white; breast pale brown; flanks barred with brown and buff. After the spring moult the male has part of the head, throat, and breast ash grey. The female is greyer than in winter, but much browner than the male, especially on the breast. The young resemble the adults in winter, but the rufous margins are much broader. Length 10·5 in.; wing 5·25 in.

THE SPOTTED CRAKE Porzana maruetta (Leach)

This is a smaller species than the preceding, and is found in marshes and swamps. They visit us in small numbers every summer, and remain to breed in suitable localities far more commonly than is usually supposed. It is, however, a very skulking species and its only note is a low "kwit, kwit," so that it is seldom either seen or heard, and the few birds that are killed on migration are the only evidence we usually get of its presence. In Scotland it is rarer, but has been found nesting in Elgin and has occurred on migration in the Shetlands. In Ireland it is a yearly immigrant, but only a few nests have been found. Except in its liking for damper places, it resembles the Corncrake in most of its habits.

The nest is placed in a reed-bed or tussock of sedge, often entirely surrounded by water. It is formed externally of coarse weeds and lined with finer materials. The eggs, usually eight to ten, are olive buff, spotted and flecked with reddish brown. The young when first hatched are black and take to the water readily, swimming about with the ease of young Moor-hens.

The male is greenish brown on the upper parts, the feathers having darker centres as well as a few small white spots; breast brown, spotted with white; rest of under parts grey; flanks barred with brown. This bird shows no great differences in plumage, the sexes and young being much alike. Length 9 in.; wing 4·5 in.

THE LITTLE CRAKE Porzana parva, Scopoli

The little Crake is a migrant breeding in Central Europe. To Great Britain it is a very rare straggler, and has only been taken about a dozen times, and only one instance is noted from both Scotland and Ireland.

It is a rather smaller bird than the preceding species, from which it may be readily distinguished by the absence of spots on the throat or breast. Length 8 in.; wing 4·2 in.

BAILLON'S CRAKE Porzana bailloni (Vieillot)

This species has only been met with in these islands on the spring and autumn migrations; on one or two occasions it has been recorded as having bred in the eastern counties, but although there is no great improbability about this, British-taken eggs have never been thoroughly authenticated. On the Continent it breeds freely in Western Europe, from Holland southwards as far east as North Italy.

In plumage it closely resembles the Little Crake, from which it may always be distinguished by having the outer web of the first primary white. Length 7 in.; wing 3·45 in.

THE WATER-RAIL Rallus aquaticus, Linnæus

This species is tolerably abundant throughout Great Britain wherever swamps and sedge or reed-beds are sufficiently large to afford it cover. It is most abundant in winter, when our native birds receive large additions from the Continent, especially during severe weather.

During the breeding season it is very noisy, making a loud and peculiar noise, known in some localities as "sharming." Extremely loth to take wing, but swimming, and diving with great facility, it is very difficult to get a sight of this bird, except during severe weather, when the cover is more scanty, and lack of food compels it to leave its usual haunts. The nest is placed in a thick tuft of sedge or reeds and is a deep cup-shaped structure of flags; the eggs are pale creamy white, flecked with a few reddish spots, and are seven to nine in number. The food consists of worms, snails, and other aquatic insects and plants.

The adult has the back dark brown, with broad olive brown margins to the feathers; cheeks, neck, and breast lead grey; vent buff; flanks black, barred with white. Bill red. Length 11·5 in.; wing 4·75 in.

The young have the under parts dull brownish, barred on the flanks with dark brown. The female has occasionally some of the wing coverts black, barred with white, but this is a very variable feature. This species is subject to considerable differences in size and also in the intensity of colouring on the beak, breast, and under parts.

THE MOOR-HEN Gallinula chloropus (Linnæus)