164 CATALOGUE OF BIRDS, 



CASE 32, 



LAND-RAIL, WATER-RAIL, BAILLON'S 



CRAKE, SPOTTED CRAKE. 



Order, Fulicarice. Family, RaliidcE. 



The Land- Rail. 



This species, also called the Corncrake, is, no 

 doubt, very familiar to most of us, and is plentifully 

 and widely distributed over the British Islands in 

 suitable localities, such as heavy grass lands before 

 beinof mown, cornfields, clover fields, etc. It arrives 

 in the latter end of April, departing again in 

 October, although instances are on record where 

 the birds have remained — this applies, however, to 

 Ireland rather than to England. When I hear this 

 bird calling in the long grass or cornfields in the 

 summer months, the nearest approach to the sound 

 to me is as though you had a fishing reel in your 

 hand and commenced to pull off some of the line in 

 short jerks. 



In regard to the peculiarities of this note, I think 

 what Mr. W. Swaysland says about it is interesting : 

 "The note of the Land- Rail is familiar to all who 

 love and frequent the country ; and it commonly 

 happens that in the calm, still, twilight of a summer's 

 evening the discordant * Crake, crake, crake,' of this 

 bird is the only sound to break the silence or 

 indicate that any portion of the animal world is 

 still awake. The note Is distinctly ventriloquial, 



