THE LANDRAIL. 195 



trees, where it had taken shelter on its return from the 

 south. Corn and hay fields are its favourite resorts, and 

 its monotonous cry may be heard in the summer even- 

 ings and mornings, as well as during the day. It is very 

 difficult to make out the exact spot where the bird is 

 crying, the hopelessness of any endeavour to get a sight of 

 it being thus quaintly alluded to by Montgomery : — 



Go round the field, and round the field, and round, 

 You'll find my voice for ever changing ground ; 

 And while your ear pursues my creaking cry, 

 You look as if you heard it with your eye. 



I have, however, sometimes forced it to take wing by hunt- 

 ing it closely with a good terrier or spaniel ; 



and, when upraised. 

 With feet suspended, awkwardly she flies ; 

 Her flight a ridge-breadth : suddenly she drops. 

 And, running, still eludes the following foot. 



Grahame, Birds of Scotland. 



Long ago the neighbourhood of Billy Mire, with its wide 

 stretches of rushes and rough grassy meadows, would be 

 a favourite resort of the Corn Crake; and we find Dr. 

 Henderson thus alluding to the bird in that locality : — 



On the Pyper knowes,^ where the lang broom grows, 

 I sat me down in the gloamin' dim ; 

 While lay the white mist on the reedy Mire's breast. 

 And the Crake 'mang the corn sang his evening hymn. 



Its food consists chiefly of worms, snails, and insects. 

 It makes a slight nest on the ground amongst long grass 

 or corn, and the eggs, which vary from seven to ten in 

 number, are pale reddish -white spotted with ash-grey and 

 reddish -brown. A curious circumstance connected with 

 the finding of a Corn Crake's nest in 1808 by some men 

 while cutting grass with the scythe on a little island 



1 A round hill at the east end of Billie Mire, said to have been a favourite 

 haunt of the fairies in bygone times. 



