THE LANDRAIL. 



197 



times was believed to hide itself and sleep through the 

 winter : — 



The bat, the bee, 



The butterflee, 



The cuckoo and the swallow. 



The kittiwake, 



And the corn crake, 



Sleep a' in a little hoUie.^ 



It is highly esteemed as a dish for the table, and seems 

 likewise to have had a reputation as a dainty in olden 

 times, for we find Drayton in his Polyolhion alluding to it 

 as — 



The rayle, which seldom comes but upon rich men's spits. 



It is referred to in the old Scottish poem entitled The 

 Houlate, or the Danger of Pride, maid he Holland, 1453 : — 



He gart the Emproure trow, and trewlye behald. 

 That the Corncraik, the pundare at hand. 

 Had poyndit all his pris hors in a poynd fald, 

 Becaus thai eite of the corn in the kirkland. 



1 Hist. Ber. Nat. Club, vol. i. p. 218. 



^1 ^-r V'4 -?^ " 



