30 Nesting kind Rcariiii^ of Landrails in Captivity. 



in which he and his mates ]iacl been faring- at my expense, 

 and could hardly squeeze his body into the trap. 



I placed the remaining- egg under a Silkie Bantam, 

 but it disappeared during- the nigdit a few days later, prob- 

 ably annexed by a rat. Thus ended ;in failure my first attempt 

 to "breed these birds, for thougli I lam pretty sure they nested 

 again after this, no eggs were discovered and no young 

 hatched so fai' as I know. 



This season (191 5), which brought liappier results, 

 commenced disastrously, for on March 8th. soon after arriving 

 at my new house in Gloucestershire, a stray dog broke into 

 the aviary during the niglit and murdered my cock Landrail. 



I was in despair for there seemed but little likelihood 

 of my being able to replace him at an^y rate that season. 

 Fo'" onc< ina way, however, fortune smiled upon ine. Anian 

 wrote me from Scotland on May i 5th that some boys had 

 captured a Landrail which they had heard calling in a field, 

 and would I like it? A wire dispatched instanter answered in 

 the affirmative. On arrival the bird proved to be a very 

 fine young cock, wonderfully tame, considering that it had only 

 been captured two or three days previously. It fed at first 

 solely on earth-worms, and such other " small game " las 

 I could procure it^ but in a few days, inspired no doubt by 

 the example of the hen, it began to sample the " soft-food " 

 and seed, and from then on never looked back. It was ter- 

 ribly thin on arrival, but a fortnight later, when I turned 

 it out into my aviary (till then I, had ikept it in a; large 

 conservatory adjoining the house), it was as fat as ihe pro- 

 verbial lark.. 



I heard the cock " craiking " for the first time on 

 May 24th. 



This bird, as I have already mentioned, behaved with 

 the most praiseworthy restraint in the display of its vocal 

 powers, and seldom, it ever, indulged in more than five 

 " craiks " at a time, invariably rendered as follows: four 

 " craiks," a pause, thien a final one; this would usually con- 

 tinuie for five or ten minutes, after which I found by experience 

 that 1 could safely count upon twenty-four hours peace, 



