The Watercock is a rail of wet grasslands, marshes, and well-vegetated ponds. Northern breeding populations may move south.
Breeding males are mostly dark, with a yellow bill, a red frontal shield extending over the head, and red legs. Outside the breeding season, males resemble females and juveniles, with buff-brown plumage and dark streaks above. Females are brownish with dark upperpart streaks, and juveniles resemble females. Males are larger: 41–43 cm long, compared with 31–36 cm for females.
Birds that breed farther north move south as the seasons change.
It skulks in thick waterside cover and sometimes comes into the open to feed.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.