THE LANDRAIL OR CORNCRAKE. 297 



A single instance is on record of its having been 

 shot in Oudh j 1 but Mr. Blyth informed me that 

 he knew of no other authority for it as an Indian 

 bird, although he had seen specimens from 

 Afghanistan. South of the Equator the Land- 

 rail penetrates to Natal (cf. Gurney, " Ibis," 

 1863, p. 331), and, according to Mr. Layard 

 (" Birds of South Africa," p. 338), a solitary 

 specimen has been procured in Cape Colony. 



Mr. Ayres, who has shot it in Natal, writing 

 of its habits ("Ibis," 1863, p. 331), says: 

 " Having been once flushed, it is a difficult 

 matter to put them up a second time out of the 

 long grass; for, besides running with great 

 swiftness, they have a curious method of evading 

 the dogs by leaping with closed wings and com- 

 pressed feathers over the long grass some three 

 or four yards, and then, running a short dis- 

 tance, they leap again. The scent being thus 

 broken, they generally evade the most keen- 

 scented dogs ; and so quickly are these strange 



1 " Bengal Sporting Magazine," 1842, p. 870. 



