Part 66

The water-rail inhabits fens, marshes, and watercourses, moving rapidly in the rank vegetation, swimming and diving with ease, flying only when compelled, and rising heavily, with fluttering wings and dangling legs, and after a short flight dropping again into cover. Its shy, skulking habits make it appear a very rare bird, but it is found, although in small numbers, in most suitable localities in Great Britain and Ireland. Although it is met with throughout the year in this country, it is believed to be migratory, the birds that breed with us moving southwards in winter, when their places are taken by migrants arriving from more northern regions.

The nest is made of reed-leaves, and is placed among coarse herbage or in a tussock of sedge. Seven to eleven eggs are laid, in colour pale creamy white, thinly flecked with reddish brown and grey. The nestlings are covered with black down. During the pairing and breeding time the rails are loquacious, frequently uttering their loud peculiar cry.

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Three other rails (genus Porzana) occur in the British Islands, one a regular visitant. They inhabit marshes, but in form are more like the corncrake than the water-rail.

Spotted crake (Porzana maruetta).--A summer visitor, breeding sparingly in different parts of Great Britain. On account of its skulking habits and small size it is rarely seen. It lays eight to ten eggs, olive-buff in ground-colour, spotted with dark reddish brown. In size it is about a fourth less than the water-rail; the upper parts are olive-brown spotted with white; crown dark brown; face and neck dull grey; breast brown spotted with white.

Baillon’s crake (Porzana bailloni).--A somewhat rare visitor to Great Britain, but known to have bred in Norfolk. General colour warm brown flecked with black and white. Length, seven inches.

Little crake (Porzana parva).--A rare visitor to the British Islands, chiefly to the east coast. Upper parts olive-brown; under parts slate-grey. Length, eight inches.

Corncrake.

Crex pratensis.

Ash-grey patches above the eyes and on the cheeks; feathers of the upper parts yellowish brown with dark centres; wing-coverts and quills chestnut; throat white; breast greyish buff; belly white in the centre, and flanks broadly barred with brown and buff; bill and feet pale brown. Length, eleven inches.

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The corncrake is one of the commonest British birds. It is as large as a partridge and more brightly coloured; it lives on the ground, and, like the partridge, is to some extent a bird of the homestead. Yet it is rarely seen, for, of all skulking creatures, it is the shyest, swiftest of foot, and most elusive. Its narrow, wedge-like shape fits it to pass through the close, upright stems of the grass with perfect ease, and, with head and neck extended as if flying, it runs in the grass as rapidly as a plover or partridge over the smoothest ground. But though not seen it is heard, its low creaking cry sounding incessantly from morning till night in spring from the meadows and fields. This curious sound may be imitated by rapidly passing the thumb-nail along the teeth of a fine comb. The note is said to be uttered by the male, and is not often heard after breeding begins. The nest is made at the end of May, or in June, and is placed among growing corn or meadow grass, and is formed of dry grass and leaves. Seven to ten eggs are laid, reddish white in ground-colour, spotted with bright brown and grey.

The corncrake, or landrail, is found throughout the British Islands, and is most abundant in rich pastures; in southern England and in Ireland it appears to be most numerous. At the beginning of October it migrates, but birds are not unfrequently met with in winter, particularly in Ireland.

Moorhen.

Gallinula chloropus.

Fore part of the bill yellow; base and frontal plate red; irides red; upper parts dark olive-brown; head, neck, and under parts slate-grey, with some white streaks on the flanks; under tail-coverts pure white; legs greenish yellow, red above the tarsal joint. Length, thirteen inches. In this species the female is larger and more brightly coloured than the male.

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The moorhen is one of our most familiar wild birds; for not only is it common and generally distributed in the British Islands, but where it is not molested, and the stream, or pond, or ditch it inhabits is close to the homestead, it becomes almost domestic in its habits, and will freely mix with the poultry and share their food. Furthermore, it attracts a good deal of attention, and is something of a favourite with most people, on account of its pretty appearance and quaint, graceful carriage, as it moves over the turf with measured steps, nodding its head and jerking its tail in order to display the conspicuous snow-white under-coverts.

The name of moorhen, which some writers dislike, is old English for marsh-hen, from moorish, which had the same meaning as marshy. Water-hen, another time-honoured name for this bird, is still in common use; but mot-hen, or moat-hen, from the bird’s habit of frequenting moats when moated houses were common in England, is now obsolete.

The moorhen swims and dives with ease, and feeds a good deal in the water, usually keeping near the fringe of weeds, in which it takes refuge on the slightest alarm. When hunted it dives, and is able to remain submerged for an indefinite time by grasping the weeds at the bottom with its claws and keeping its nostrils above the surface.

The nest is generally placed on the ground among the reeds or rushes, but many other sites are used; and sometimes it is built in a tree several feet above the ground. Seven or eight eggs are laid, reddish white in ground-colour, thinly speckled and spotted with orange-brown. The young when hatched are covered with a black hairy down. Two or three broods are reared in the season, and it has been observed that the young of the first brood sometimes assist the parents in making a new nest and in rearing the young of the second brood.

The moorhen feeds on worms, slugs, insects of all kinds, and vegetable substances.

Coot.

Fulica atra.

Beak pale flesh-colour; bald patch on the forehead white; irides crimson; under parts sooty black; above, slate-grey with a narrow white bar across the wing; legs and feet dark green. Length, eighteen inches.

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In its appearance the coot is a large plain-coloured moorhen. It is more aquatic in its habits than that bird, keeping almost as constantly on the water as a diving duck. Like its smaller relation, it prefers stagnant meres or ponds, or sluggish streams with marshy borders and a deep fringe of reeds for cover; and it is to be met with in all suitable localities throughout the British Islands. It is resident all the year, but in the north, when the watercourses are frozen over in winter, it migrates to the tidal estuaries and the sea-coast, where it feeds on the mud-flats. The nest is a large structure, placed among the reeds or rushes, and built up to a height of several inches above the water. Seven to ten eggs are laid, of a light stone-colour, speckled with dark brown. The coot was formerly much more abundant than it is now in England, and was, perhaps, most numerous in the district of the Broads in Norfolk. Sir Thomas Browne, writing of the birds of Norfolk two centuries and a half ago, gives the following account of a singular habit of this bird: ‘Coots are in very great flocks on the broad waters. Upon the appearance of a kite or buzzard I have seen them unite from all parts of the shore in strange numbers; when, if the kite stoop near them, they will fling up and spread such a flash of water with their wings that they will endanger the kite, and so keep him off again and again in open opposition.’ This story, which reads like a fable, was found to be plain truth by Lord Lilford, who observed the coots on the lakes of Epirus, a district where birds of prey are abundant. He writes: ‘I have several times observed the singular manner in which a flock of these birds defend themselves against the white-tailed eagle. On the appearance over them of one of these birds they collect in a dense body, and when the eagle stoops at them they throw up a sheet of water with their feet, and completely baffle their enemy; in one instance ... they so drenched the eagle that it was with difficulty that he reached a tree on the shore not more than a hundred yards from the spot where he attacked them.’

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