392 BIRDS OF NORFOLK. 



a course, apparently glad to pitch again into the nearest 

 shelter, should be capable of a sustained passage over 

 sea and land ; but Mr. Gould (" Birds of Great Britain") 

 states that on his outward passage to America a land- 

 rail visited the ship when more than two hundred miles 

 from the Irish coast, and, after flying two or three times 

 round the vessel, settled on the rigging.* He also 

 quotes from a correspondent in the " Field " of No- 

 vember 10th, 1860, to the effect that in October, 1857, 

 when "travelling up the Mediterranean, and between 

 Gibraltar and Malta, land rails frequently came on 

 board, flying south, particularly near the Algerian and 

 Tunisian coasts." They are also known at times to 

 strike the telegraph wires on their nocturnal flight. f 



* This species has occurred once in Greenland according to 

 Professor Reinhardt (" Ibis," 1861, p. 12), once in Bermuda ac- 

 cording to Colonel Drummond-Hay and Captain Wedderburn 

 (" Contrib. Orn." 1849, p. 86 and 1850. p. 14), and several times 

 in the Eastern States of North America according to Mr. Cassin 

 (Baird's " Birds of North America," p. 751). On the other hand 

 the Carolina crake has also been recorded (" P. Z. S.," 1865, 

 p. 196) as having occurred in England. This bird is the repre- 

 sentative in America of our spotted crake, for which it might be 

 easily mistaken by a careless observer, especially if immature. 

 The adult can easily be recognised by its black face. The specimen 

 above alluded to is included by Mr. Clarke Kennedy in his recent 

 work on " The Birds of Berkshire and Buckinghamshire," having 

 been shot by Mr. H. S. Eyre, of Newington, near Sittingbourne 

 (" Zoologist," 1865, p. 9540), on the banks of the Kennet, near 

 Newbury, in October, 1864. 



f In the " Field" of May 16th, 1868, Mr. W. A. Wooler, of Sad- 

 berge Hall, states that at Bitchburn Station, on the Stockton 

 and Darlington Eailway, the station master, Mr. Jaques, " has for 

 the nine years he has been at that station, picked up nine corn 

 crakes, which have been killed by flying against one of the seven 

 telegraphic wires, and the spot where they have fallen has not 

 varied above a yard. He has obtained one every year except in 

 1866, but in 1867 two were picked up. The invariable cause of 

 death is by a dislocation of the neck." 



