66 LAND-RAIL. 
cause. In Cornwall it is said to be rather rare, and in 
Cambridgeshire; in Norfolk only a few stay to breed, the 
greater numbers that are seen are only passing visitors. 
Its favourite haunts are low meadows of mowing grass, 
clover fields, willow beds, fields of growing corn, and any such 
like fastnesses as can afford it a secure hiding-place. 
They conduct their migration by night, and arrive in 
England about the last week in April, reaching the northern 
parts of the kingdom about the -beginning of the first week 
in May, but some have been seen by the end of April. 
Their arrival in the south seems to be rather later, namely, 
in the second week in May. Their departure takes place 
early in October, but one is recorded to have been killed 
near London, in December, 1884; one near Yarmouth, in 
Norfolk, in January, 1886; and one in Ireland on the 29th. 
of March, but whether it was a newly-arrived bird, or one 
that had stayed through the previous winter, cannot be 
affirmed. Instances have occurred of some individuals re- 
maining throughout the winter, but only exceptions to the 
general rule. Mr. Edward Blyth mentions in the ‘Magazine 
of Natural History,’ volume vill, page 512, one thus met 
with at Tooting, Surrey, about the middle of December, 
1834, and it was at the time in good condition. One was 
killed in Scotland, in Kireudbrightshire, not far from Dumfries, 
on the 19th. of February, 1858; it, too, was in fine plumage, — 
and equally good bodily order. One in Oxfordshire, near 
Henley-on-Thames, on the 4th. of November, 1851. One in 
Lancashire, at Lytham, near Preston, by C. Nelson, Esq., M.D., 
on the 10th. of the same month in the following year. One 
seen in the Cambridge market on the 7th. of November, 
1851, but it had the mark of a wound on the wing, which 
had no doubt prevented it from migrating. On the 2nd. of 
December, 1851, another was shot near Plymouth, Devonshire, 
which had not left our shores, though, to all appearance, 
‘sound, wind and limb.’ In the same year, on the 18th. of 
February, one had been taken near Bembridge, in the Isle 
of Wight. In Sussex, one near Rottingdean, on the 27th. 
of November, 1844. Another was shot near Rye, in the 
same county, just before Christmas, 1848, and another was 
seen near the same place the following February. In the 
winter of 1846-7, during a severe frost, with snow on the 
ground, a Land-Rail was constantly seen feeding with the 
fowls in a farm-yard in the parish of Fringford, Oxfordshire. 
