334 RURAL BIRD LIFE. 



borne away by the breeze. But this does not make the 

 Landrail a ventriloquist, and between the lulls of the 

 wind we hear his notes from one direction, clear and 

 powerful as usual, provided he is stationary, or in different 

 directions as he wanders hither and thither through the 

 herbage. It is, in fact, the observer himself who is at 

 fault, failing to remember, or being unaware, that the 

 slightest breeze that disturbs the air of a summer night 

 is sufficient to influence the bird's notes in this respect. 



The note of the Landrail can be closely imitated 

 by drawing a knife blade smartly across a stout comb. 

 Very little skill is required, and by remaining perfectly 

 motionless and quiet, the birds will often visit you, some- 

 times flying through the air and alighting at your feet, 

 or more frequently coming through the herbage. The 

 birds in the mating season are probably more often seen 

 than at any other time of their stay. I have known 

 them in the mating season, lured by a call, alight on the 

 neighbouring hedgerows ; and I have also heard them call 

 when flying through the air, shortly after their arrival. 

 Landrails are with difficulty flushed, even by dogs, and 

 they are slow fliers until they get well into the air, flying 

 with their legs hanging down, and are very rarely flushed 

 a second time. From what I have observed, the Land- 

 rail does not call so frequently in cold, dull weather, and 

 still less so during the period of incubation, and his notes 

 entirely cease in the late summer months, and he re- 

 mains silent until he leaves us for warmer latitudes. 



The food of the Landrail, as might be supposed, is 

 composed largely of animal substances. His rich and 

 humid haunts yield him worms, slugs, and snails in 

 abundance, together with various kinds of beetles and 

 insects ; tender shoots of herbage are also eaten, as is 

 also the seed of various grasses. 



