250 SHORTER-BILLED RUNNING BIRDS. 



the size of a Partrido^e), and the brightest, leaving the 

 impression of a yellowy-brown bird. 



LAND -RAIL, or CORN - CRAKE. — Plate 107. 



Length, 10^ inches. General colour above yellowish- 

 brown, boldly streaked with dark brown ; wings 

 chestnut ; under parts yellowish-white, with broad 

 brown bands across the flanks ; bill and feet pale 

 brown. Summer migrant. 



Eggs. — 7—10, dingy- white, with a reddish tinge, 

 spotted sparingly with orange -brown and gray ; 

 1-45 xl-1 inch (plate 131). 



Nest. — A depression in the ground, scantily lined 

 with bits of dead herbage. 



The Corn-Crake or Land-Rail is widely distributed 

 throughout the United Kingdom. It is a bird of the 

 pasture lands, arriving in May, from whicli time until 

 the nest is constructed the incessant ' Crake ! ' may be 

 heard by day and night. Although the head of the 

 newly arrived bird may often be seen as it peeps over 

 the short, early grass, little more of it is likely to be 

 observed during the remainder of its stay. At times, 

 however, the short-billed, ruddy-bodied, stub -tailed 

 bird, in form somewhat like a slender Partridge, may 

 be seen as it runs with lowered head, hugging the 

 border of standing crops or slinking along the 

 furrows in potato-fields. When the grass is cut it 

 takes to the growing corn. The Corn-Crake flies only 

 under compulsion, its running and hiding powers 

 offering it a safer means of escape from all but the 



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