WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS 



of the cuckoo, are always grateful to my ear, because, being 

 heard only in the spring-time, they are associated in my 

 mind with the idea of the departure of winter and the re- 

 turn of fine weather. 



It is often a matter of astonishment to me howthe throat 

 of a bird so tender and delicately formed as the landrail can 

 emit such hard and grating cries, which sound more as if 

 they were produced by some iron or brazen instrumentthan 

 from the windpipe of a bird. The raven or crow look as if 

 they ought to be the owners of a harsh and croaking voice, 

 and a shrill note comes appropriately from the throat of a 

 barn-door cock;but a landrail appears to be a birdquite un- 

 fitted to produce a sound like that of a piece of iron drawn 

 along the teeth of a rusty saw. There is a way of imitating 

 their cry so exactly, as to bring the bird to your feet, but 

 I never could succeed in doing so, or indeed in making it 

 answer me at all, though I have tried the plan which I was 

 told was infallible, of drawing the edges oftwo horse's ribs 

 against each other, one ofthem being smooth and the other 

 notched like a saw. Although the fields were swarming 

 with the birds at the time, I never succeeded in persuading 

 even a single one to answer me. 



