RALI.ID.t. 



493 



--.' ^v/ii'y'yj^ 



THE LANDRAIL. 



Crkx pratknsis, Bechstein. 



The Land-Rail, also known as the Corn-Crake, is widely dis- 

 tributed in summer throughout the British Islands ; usually making 

 its appearance in the southern counties of England during the last 

 ten days of April, though in Yorkshire and northwards it is seldom 

 heard till the first or second week in May, and only towards the end 

 of that month in the Shetlands. Westward, it has been obtained 

 in St. Kilda, and is common in the Outer Hebrides, where it is 

 probable that a few birds occasionally pass the winter. This is 

 undoubtedly the case in Ireland, and, more rarely, in England , 

 but the majority have taken their departure before October. Rich 

 pastures are its favourite haunts, but it may be found wherever 

 there is grass-land. 



This species occasionally breeds in the l*";xToes, but its occur- 

 rence in Iceland has not been authenticated, though a single 

 example was obtained near Clodthaab in Greenland, in 185 1. Indi- 

 viduals which had, no doubt, availed themselves of the assistance of 

 vessels, have frequently been obtained of late years on the eastern 

 sea-board of the United States; and in October 1847 one was shot 

 in the Bermudas. As a wanderer it has been found in the Azores 



