138 DICTIONARY OF NAMES OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



Lady Lently : The GARDEN- WARBLER is so caUed in some 



parts of Northumberland. (Bolam.) 

 Lady Snipe : The CO^OION SNIPE. (Cheshire.) 

 Lady with the twelve flounces. Swainson gives this as a 



Shropshire name for the GOLDFINCH. 

 LANCEOLATED WARBLER [No 134]. A Siberian species 



which has occurred recently in Great Britain. 

 Land Bunting: The CORN-BUNTING. (Provincial.) 

 Land Cormorant: The GOOSANDER. (Dublin.) 

 Land Curlew : The STONE-CURLEW. 

 Land Daw: The CARRION-CROW. (Northants.) 

 Land Dotterel : The DOTTEREL (Spurn, Yorkshire.) 

 Land-drake : The LAND-RAIL. (Shropshire ; Ackworth, 



Yorkshire.) 

 Land H.4Rlan : The RED-BREASTED MERGANSER. (Wex- 

 ford.) Harlan is a form of " Harle " (q.v.). 

 Land Hen: The LAND-RAIL. (WiUughby.) 



Land Lavrock : The COMMON SANDPIPER and the RINGED 

 PLOVER. (Scotland.) La\Tock=Lark. 



Land Maul : The BLACK-HEADED GULL. (East Yorkshire.) 



LAND-RAIL [No. 454]. Commonly known also as the Corn- 

 Crake (q.v.). Occiu'S in Willughby (1678) as Land Rail, 

 Land- Hen, and Daker Hen. Most subsequent writers from 

 Pennant to Montagu call it the Crake Gallinule. Montagu 

 also gives Land-Rail, but as a provincial name. Rail is 

 from Fr. Rule, Germ. Ealle, from Low Latin Rallus. It is 

 mentioned by Turner, who calls it Crex after Aristotle, and 

 gives " Daker Hen " as the English name for it. He well 

 describes its cry when he says that it " in spring as well 

 as early summer makes no other cr}^ among the corn and 

 flax than crex, crex." In Scotland if its call is frequently 

 heard it is regarded as a sign of rain. A French name is 

 " Roy de Cailles " (^King of the Quails), from an old belief 

 that the Quails selected a Land-Rail to lead their migrations. 

 A Scots belief was that the bird did not migrate, but became 

 torpid in the winter. Newton says, " formerly it seems 

 to have been a popular belief in England that the Land 

 Rail in autumn transformed itself into a Water Rail, 

 resuming its oun character in spring." This belief seems 

 to still prevail in Ireland. The Land Rail is considered a 

 lucky bird on the Scottish Borders, where the saying runs : — 



The Lark, the Corn Crake, or the Grouse, 



Will bring good luck to ilka house. 



