586 THE HYACINTHINE GALLINULE. 



stick smartly over the large teeth of a comb, or by rubbing together two jagged strips of bone. 

 In either case the bird may be decoyed within sight by this simple procedure. 



The Corncrake is not fond of its wings, and very seldom takes to the air, even preferring 

 to be caught by the dog than to escape by flight. When captured it has a habit of simulating 

 death, and often contrives to escape when the eye of its captor is otherwise engaged. One of 

 these birds, which had been picked up by a pointer, allowed itself to be placed in the game- 

 bag, carried home, and laid on the table without exhibiting any indications of life. When it 

 thought itself unwatched, it sprung up and dashed at the window, which, being closed, frus- 

 trated this poor bird in its bold attempt. 



The Corncrake can be readily tamed, as will be seen by the following account by Mr. 

 Thompson : "It became quite tame and partook of food very various in kind, such as groats 

 (few, however, of these), raw meat, bread and milk, stirabout and milk, yolk of boiled eggs 

 and butter, which last was especially relished. It also ate worms, snails, slugs, etc., and has 

 been seen to take small sticklebacks that happened to be in the water. This bird was very 

 cleanly, and washed every morning in a basin of water set apart for the purpose. It was 

 accustomed to be taken upstairs at night and brought down in the morning, and of its own 

 accord went habitually out of the cage into a basket containing moss, where the night was 

 passed, and in the morning likewise left the basket and entered the cage, in which it was car- 

 ried downstairs. 



" When allowed to go about the house, the persons to whom it was attached were sought 

 for and followed everywhere. On becoming unwell, the poor bird took possession of the lap 

 of a member of the family, and looked up to her apparently for relief ; though when in health 

 it resisted all attempts at being handled, flying up at the intruder and snapping its mandibles 

 together. Every spring it called with the usual crake, beginning very early in the morning ; 

 this was usually commenced in March, but on one occasion was uttered as early as the third 

 of February. As was remarked of the bird after this period, ' it would crake quite impu- 

 dently in the parlor when brought there to be shown off.' 



"Moulting took place in the month of August, but no symptoms of uneasiness appeared 

 then or at any particular season. At pairing time this bird was very comical, coming up with 

 its wings spread and neck stretched out after the manner of a turkey-cock, and uttering a 

 peculiar croaking note. It would then make a sort of nest in the cage, croaking all the while, 

 and carry a worm or piece of meat about in its bill. So great a favorite was this Corncrake, 

 that its death was duly chronicled, after having been kept for above six years." 



The nest of the Corncrake is placed on the ground, and is made of dried grass arranged in 

 a suitable depression. It generally contains from eight to twelve eggs, of a buffy-white cov- 

 ered with rusty-brown spots. The shell is rather thick, and the size of the egg large in pro- 

 portion to the dimensions of the bird. The position of the nest and the lateness of the hatching 

 season expose both mother and young to great danger, as the nest is often laid lower and the 

 mother killed by a sweep of the mower's scythe. The parent is very fearless when engaged in 

 incubation ; and on one occasion when a female Corncrake had been severely wounded by a 

 scythe and taken into the farm-house for two hours, she returned to her nest in spite of 

 its shelterless condition and her own wounded state, and was rewarded by the successful 

 rearing of the brood. 



The flesh of the Corncrake is very delicate and well-flavored. 



The upper parts of the body are elegantly mottled with dark blackish-brown, ashen and 

 warm chestnut ; the first tint occupying the centre of each feather, the second the edges, and 

 the third the tips. The wing-coverts are rusty-red. The throat and abdomen are white, 

 and the breast is greenish-ash, warming into reddish rust striped with white on the sides. 

 In total length the Corncrake is not quite ten inches. 



THE HYACINTHINE GALLINULE is a rather curious example of the next sub-family of the 

 Crakes, being remarkable for the large size of its beak and the length of its toes. All the 

 species belonging to the genus Porphyrio are fond of the water, although they are of tener seen 

 on land than is the case with tb< "ater-hens. They feed upon seeds and other hard 



