248 OUTDOOR LIFE IN ENGLAND 



are much given to run, when they are flushed 

 their flight is swift and straight, and with the 

 assistance of a well-trained dog they are easily 

 induced to rise. Large bags of these birds are 

 frequently made in India, more especially during 

 the rainy season, when they are most plentiful. 

 Enormous numbers of quail are annually taken in 

 nets in the island of Capri during migration. The 

 female is larger than the male. 



Although not a game-bird, the present is, I 

 consider, not unfitting for some reference to 

 the land-rail, or, as it is otherwise and more 

 aptly called, the corn crake. This bird is also a 

 migrant, arriving in this country about the end 

 of April or the beginning of May, and remaining 

 until the end of September. 



It is a remarkable bird in many respects, not 

 the least so by reason of its weak, laboured flight, 

 so apparently weak and slow as to excite wonder 

 as to how it can possibly traverse the distance 

 between this country and Africa. Macgillivray, 

 the well known naturalist, states that on one occa- 

 sion, when shooting in the island of Harris, he 

 shot at a corn crake, which he missed, and the 

 bird flew off in a direct course to the sea, about 

 four hundred yards distant, where it alighted and 

 floated motionless, sitting lightly on the water like 

 a coot, curiously enough falling a prey immedi- 

 ately afterwards to a black-backed gull. I have 

 always thought that, if the corn crake thus pos- 

 sesses the power of being able to float and rest 



