362 THE BIRDS OF KENT 



meadows laid down for hay, where its ventriloquia], grat- 

 ing call-note may be frequently heard. 



Writing in 1844, the Eev. J. Pemberton Bartlett states 

 that this bird was " not common." 



Mr. F. D. Power, in his notes on the birds at Kainham, 

 says: "One flushed in the woods on October ], 1868." 

 Mr. W. Oxenden Hammond relates that an " extra- 

 ordinary flight of Land-Rails " occurred in 1869 : " Have 

 you heard of the extraordinary flight of Land-Eails which 

 visited this neighbourhood (Wingham) in the early part 

 of September last '? Land-Tvails are usually very sparsely 

 distributed through this district — an open, corn-growing 

 country — and three or four in a season are about as 

 many as I usually meet with. During the first week of 

 September I found upwards of thirty in three days, and 

 on a neighbouring property the owner killed upwards of 

 fifty (seventeen in one small clover field of two acres), 

 and probably found a good man}' more. All these birds 

 were lean and poor, and came in with a north-east wind.' 



There is one in the Maidstone Museum, obtained near 

 Maidstone on July 24, 1894, by Mr. E. J. Balston. Mr. 

 Walter Prentis states : " On one occasion, when all 

 the young clover seeds failed to grow, I happened to 

 leave my clover field for another year, being the only 

 one in the neighbourhood of Eainham. I shot twenty- 

 five Land-Eails on nine acres in September ; this was, 

 however, a most immense event." 



Mr. F. A. Mackinnon writes: "I had not forgotten 

 my promise to search my game book at Acrise, in Kent, 

 for details as to shooting Land-Eails, but I was unable 

 to lay my hands upon it during my two days' visit this 

 week ; however, I have ascertained it was in 1880 when 

 we shot 211. Our best day that season was thirty-five, 



