460 RALLID^. 



land, appearing early in spring, and leaving again at the 

 latter end of April ; about Avhich time it collects in large 

 flocks, and may be found on the rocks at ebb-tide, watch- 

 ing each retiring wave, running down as the water falls 

 back, picking small shell-fish off the stones, and displaying 

 great activity in escaping the advancing sea. It does not 

 breed there." 



This species has a wide geographical range. It has been 

 often observed in the Arctic Eegions, where it breeds. 

 It is well known in North America, and is found in 

 various parts of the continent of Europe, especially 

 Holland. 



LAND RAIL, OR* CORN CRAKE. 



CREX PRATENSIS. 



Upper feathers dusky brown bordered with reddish ash ; over the eye and down 

 the side of the head, a streak of ash ; wing-coverts rust-red ; quills reddish 

 brown ; throat, belly and abdomen, whitish ; breast pale yellowish brown ; 

 hanks barred with white and rust-red ; upper mandible brown, lower whitish ; 

 irides brown ; feet reddish brown. Length ten inches. Eggs yellowish brown 

 spotted and speckled with grey and reddish brown. 



Few persons can have spent the summer months in the 

 •country, and enjoyed their evenings in the open air, 

 \vithout having grown familiar with the note of the Corn 

 Crake ; yet, strange to say, among those who have heard 

 it on numberless occasions, not one in a hundred (leaving 

 sportsmen out of the account) have ever seen one alive. 

 Its whole life, while with us, seems to be spent among the 

 stalks of hay or corn, between which its long legs and 

 slender body give it peculiar facility of moving, and it is 

 only when hard pressed that it rises from the ground. 

 Its flight is slow, with its legs hanging down ; and it 

 usually drops into the nearest hedge or cover which 

 presents itself, and from which it is not easily flushed a 

 second time. 



The Corn Crake is found, during summer, in all the 

 counties of England, but is less frequent in Cornwall and 



