Birds of Britain 



is always more abundant in the west, and during the last 

 few years has become comparatively scarce and local in our 

 eastern and south-eastern counties. 



The Eails are birds of poor flight and skulking habits, 

 rarely taking to their wings unless hard pressed, and even 

 at such times flying but a short distance with legs hanging 

 down, and soon dropping again into the nearest cover. Im- 

 mediately on his arrival the male Land-Eail, or Corncrake 

 as it is often called, utters his well-known crake — a 

 harsh " craak, craak," repeated with monotonous frequency, 

 especially during the long summer evenings and again 

 before dawn. 



The nest is placed in dense cover in the middle of some 

 grass- or corn-fields ; it is a deep " scrape," generally hollowed 

 out by the cock, and lined with bents and grass. Eight to 

 ten eggs are the usual clutch ; they resemble those of the 

 Missel Thrush, being greenish white, spotted and blotched 

 with red, brown, and greyish. The male, who takes no part 

 in the incubation, is very attentive to his mate, bringing 

 her delicate tit- bits and accompanying her when she leaves 

 the nest. Their food consists of worms, slugs, snails, and 

 other insects, as well as grain and seeds, so that it is 

 practically omnivorous. When the young are hatched the 

 "craking" ceases, and both parents brood and tend the 

 young. These when first hatched are jet black, and become 

 fully feathered in about a month or five weeks, their 

 wing feathers being the last to grow. Although they 

 can run and leave the nest as soon as hatched, they 

 do not feed themselves for some days, but take all their 

 food from their parents' beaks. If the first clutch of 



284 



