388 BIRDS OF NORFOLK. 



its presence is indicated by the monotonous creaking 

 note from which its name is derived, and by which alone 

 an estimate can be formed of the abundance or scarcity 

 of the species during the summer months. "Heard, 

 not seen/' is the motto of its race, and as both corn- 

 and grass-lands usually afford sufficient shelter* on 

 its first arrival, examples are but rarely procured at 

 that season; although, as stated by Yarrell and other 

 authors, even this wary bird may be drawn from its 

 coverts by simply passing a piece of wood along the 

 teeth of a comb, in imitation of its call note. This cry 

 is said to be uttered only by the male bird, and Selby 

 remarks that when paired and incubation has commenced 

 it ceases altogether; but this is quite contrary to my 

 own experience, having heard it on summer evenings, 

 both in June and July, and Thompson gives instances 

 of its having been heard in Ireland throughout July 

 and even occasionally in August. Mr. Lubbock, in 1845, 

 described the corn-crake in his " Fauna of Norfolk," as 

 having "much decreased in numbers," attributable, I 

 imagine, to the same causes which have rendered the 

 quailf far less numerous than formerly. The greater 

 abundance of land-rails in Ireland than in Great Britain 

 is attributed by Thompson " to the more humid climate 

 and the general prevalence of meadow land ;" conditions 

 which in this county, at least, have been extensively 

 changed through drainage and cultivation; and at the 

 present time the localities most frequented by it are those 

 where cultivation borders upon a low lying district, with 



* According to Thompson (" Birds of Ireland,'* vol. ii., p. 312), 

 the arrival of the corn-crake in the north of Ireland, has no con- 

 nection with the early or late state of the meadows, having re- 

 marked the bird "when they hardly concealed its body" ; and at 

 other times not until " two or three weeks after they were ready 

 for its reception." 



t See ante, vol. i., p. 431, note. 



