392 BIRDS OF NORFOLK. 
a course, apparently glad to pitch again into the nearest 
shelter, should be capable of a sustained passage over 
sea and land; but Mr. Gould (“ Birds of Great Britain”) 
states that on his outward passage to America a land- 
rail visited the ship when more than two hundred miles 
from the Irish coast, and, after flying two or three times 
round the vessel, settled on the rigging.* He also 
quotes from a correspondent in the “Field” of No- 
vember 10th, 1860, to the effect that in October, 1857, 
when “travelling up the Mediterranean, and between 
Gibraltar and Malta, land rails frequently came on 
board, flying south, particularly near the Algerian and 
Tunisian coasts.”” They are also known at times to 
strike the telegraph wires on their nocturnal flight. 
* This species has occurred once in Greenland according to 
Professor Reinhardt (‘ Ibis,’ 1861, p. 12), once in Bermuda ac- 
cording to Colonel Drummond-Hay and Captain Wedderburn 
(“ Contrib. Orn.” 1849, p. 86 and 1850. p. 14), and several times 
in the Eastern States of North America according to Mr. Cassin 
(Baird’s “ Birds of North America,” p. 751). On the other hand 
the Carolina crake has also been recorded (“P. Z.58.,” 1865, 
p. 196) as having occurred in England. ‘This bird is the repre- 
sentative in America of our spotted crake, for which it might be 
easily mistaken by a careless observer, especially if immature. 
The adult can easily be recognised by its black face. The specimen 
above alluded to is included by Mr. Clarke Kennedy in his recent 
work on “The Birds of Berkshire and Buckinghamshire,” having 
been shot by Mr. H. 8. Eyre, of Newington, near Sittingbourne 
(“ Zoologist,” 1865, p. 9540), on the banks of the Kennet, near 
Newbury, in October, 1864. 
+ In the “ Field” of May 16th, 1868, Mr. W. A. Wooler, of Sad- 
berge Hall, states that at Bitchburn Station, on the Stockton 
and Darlington Railway, the station master, Mr. Jaques, “ has for 
the nine years he has been at that station, picked up nine corn 
crakes, which have been killed by flying against one of the seven 
telegraphic wires, and the spot where they have fallen has not 
varied above a yard. He has obtained one every year except in 
1866, but in 1867 two were picked up. The invariable cause of 
death is by a dislocation of the neck.” 
