388 BIRDS OF NORFOLK. 
its presence is indicated by the monotonous creaking 
note from which its name is derived, and by which alone 
an estimate can be formed of the abundance or scarcity 
of the species during the summer months. ‘“ Heard, 
not seen,” is the motto of its race, and as both corn- 
and grass-lands usually afford sufficient shelter* on 
its first arrival, examples are but rarely procured at 
that season; although, as stated by Yarrell and other 
authors, even this wary bird may be drawn from its 
coverts by simply passing a piece of wood along the 
teeth of a comb, in imitation of its call note. This cry 
is said to be uttered only by the male bird, and Selby 
remarks that when paired and incubation has commenced 
it ceases altogether; but this is quite contrary to my 
own experience, having heard it on summer evenings, 
both in June and July, and Thompson gives instances 
of its having been heard in Ireland throughout July 
and even occasionally in August. Mr. Lubbock, in 1845, 
described the corn-crake in his “ Fauna of Norfolk,” as 
having “much decreased in numbers,” attributable, I 
imagine, to the same causes which have rendered the 
quail; far less numerous than formerly. The greater 
abundance of land-rails in Ireland than in Great Britain 
is attributed by Thompson “to the more humid climate 
and the general prevalence of meadow land ;” conditions 
which in this county, at least, have been extensively 
changed through drainage and cultivation; and at the 
present time the localities most frequented by it are those 
where cultivation borders upon a low lying district, with 
* According to Thompson (“Birds of Ireland,” vol. ii., p. 312), 
the arrival of the corn-crake in the north of Ireland, has no con- 
nection with the early or late state of the meadows, having re- 
marked the bird “when they hardly concealed its body”; and at 
other times not until “two or three weeks after they were ready 
for its reception.” 
+ See ante, vol. i, p. 431, note. 
