228 LAND RAIL OR CORN CRAKE 



are said to be carried about in winter by the natives, to keep their 

 hands warm — to the British Isles. With us they are nowhere 

 plentiful, but are occasionally shot by sportsmen in most parts of 

 the country. In cornfields, on the shores of Belfast Lough, in the 

 north of Ireland, they are of frequent occurrence. 



In Palestine the Quails still come up in the night, as of old, and 

 "cover the land," 



ORDER FULICARIiE 



FAMILY RALLID^ 

 LAND RAIL, OR CORN CRAKE 



CREX PRATENSIS 



Upper feathers dusky brown bordered with reddish ash ; over the eye and 

 down the side of the head, a streak of ash ; wing-coverts rust-red ; quills 

 reddish brown ; throat, belly, and abdomen, whitish ; breast pale 

 yellowish brown ; flanks barred with white and rust-red ; upper man- 

 dible brown, lower whitish ; irides brown ; feet reddish brown. Length 

 ten inches. Eggs yellowish brown spotted and speckled with grey and 

 reddish brown. 



Few persons can have spent the summer months in the country, 

 and enjoyed their evenings in the open air, without having grown 

 familiar with the note of the Corn Crake ; yet, strange to say, 

 among those who have heard it on numberless occasions, not one 

 in a hundred (leaving sportsmen out of the account) have ever 

 seen one alive. Its whole life, whUe with us, seems to be spent 

 among the long grass and stalks of hay or corn, between which 

 its long legs and slender body give it peculiar facility of moving, 

 and it is only when hard pressed that it rises from the ground. 

 Its flight is low, with its legs hanging down ; and it usually drops 

 into the nearest hedge or cover which presents itself, and from 

 which it is not easUy flushed a second time. 



The Corn Crake used to be found, during summer, in all the 

 counties of England, but is less frequent in Cornwall and Devon- 

 shire than in the counties farther east, and increases in abundance 

 as we advance northwards. In the north of Ireland it is to be 

 heard in every meadow and cornfield, and here its incessant cry 

 in the evenings is monotonous, if not wearisome ; in many parts 

 of Scotland it is also very common, and here it is much more 

 frequently seen. In waste lands, where it can find no continuous 

 corn, it takes refuge in patches of flags, rushes, or tall weeds, and 

 if watched for, may be seen leaving its place of concealment, and 

 quietly walking along the grass, lifting its feet high, and stooping 



