Page:The Emu volume 13.djvu/254

 cress is often torn about, but I do not know whether the birds eat it or only search through it for the creatures that it harbours. I have found pieces of reeds pulled up and the ends gone; evidently the Crakes like the soft white part at the base. Under damp herbage and among rotting grass a species of "hopper" lives. It is similar to the sand-hopper of the seashore, and I daresay all the Rallinæ eat it.

Owing to the denseness of their habitat the birds are seldom seen, but may be occasionally surprised, and if pressed too closely will sometimes fly a short distance just over the top of the grass, and then drop down. More often they crouch in the grassy tangle, remaining motionless at the base of a tussock. My sister opened a tussock, and when puling up the dead matted strands was surprised to see the brown back of the bird. Once I saw a Crake sitting on a fallen stick in the water; but it soon noticed me, and darted into the rushes. The Spotless Crake has a variety of calls, some of which are peculiar. One, uttered when the bird is alarmed, resembles the growl of an angry cat. A warning call to one another, if the mates be separated, is similar to the noise made by a sitting hen when a hand is placed under her. The Crakes make this noise if the rushes or logs are struck with a stick. One bird replies with the low growl. They approach each other as they reply, and it is interesting to hear the contented chuckle when they meet. Another call is like the sound made by a motor-cycle as its engine begins to work. When feeding quietly, the birds utter pretty murmuring sounds, which remind the listener of air and water escaping from a bottle. These notes are also used to call the little ones to follow their parents.

Early one morning I was endeavouring to discover the nest of a pair of Crakes. I knew that the birds were present, as they sounded the alarm when I struck the rushes and reeds with a stick; but after I entered the swamp no answer was given. After a little while I became aware that the birds were behind me. and "talking" to themselves. Thus they followed wherever I searched. Not a glimpse could I get of them, but while I hunted the bubbling chatter continued. The swamps here are boggy depressions between rises. In some the footing under the water is fair; in others very muddy. They are, in most cases, densely matted with reeds (Juncus pallidus and Juncus pauciflorus), also the common sword or cutting grass (Carex paniculata) and meadow fescue. Wild musk, peppermint (Mentha viridis), and the water grass (Glycerin fluitans) choke the channels and overrun every spare space.

At the beginning of the season much time was devoted to searching under the drooping tussocks, but several small nests found towards the end of August showed that this was useless. Strangely enough, the first nest of the Spotless Crake discovered was in the school swamp, a few yards from the playground, and so close that I often heard the alarm call when the birds were startled by the noise of windows opening. Once the "Squeak