112 SHOOTIIfG. 



" Alas ! and has not instinct said, 

 That luxury's toils for you are laid. 

 And that, by groundless fears betrayed. 



You ne'er perhaps may know _ 

 Those regions where the embowering vitie 

 Loves round the luscious fig to twine. 

 And mild the suns of winter shine, 

 And flowers perennial blow ? 



** To take you shepherds' boys prepare 

 The hoUow turf, the noose of hair ; 

 Of those weak terrors well av/are. 



That bid you vainly dread 

 The shadows floating o'er the downs. 

 Or murmurmg gale that round the stones 

 Of some old beacon as it moans, 

 Scarce moves the thistle's head. 



" And if a cloud obscures the sun, 

 With faint and fluttering heart you nui. 

 And to the pit-fall you should shun 



Resort in trembling haste ; 

 While on the dewy cloud so high. 

 The lark (sweet minstrel of the sky) 

 Sings in the morning's beamy eye, 



And bathes his spotted breast." 



The Landrail or Corncrahe {Rallus Crex, Linn.) — ^We have kno^n 

 many keen sportsmen rather fond of landrail shooting, not so much 

 from the abundance of what may be called sport, if the number of ' 

 birds captured is to form the estunate, but from the number of j 

 disappointments which they experienced. Tantalizing is an element ' 

 in fowling amusements of considerable value. It would not do to 

 have tilings all our own way ; there would then be no sport, in the 

 proper sense of the word. To those minds vfho like a little excite- 

 ment and drollery with their shooting excursions, we would recom- 

 mend them to set about the pursuit of the corncrake. We have 

 ourselves spent many an agreeable hour in ramblmg after tliem, 

 and often without being able to take one of them. 



The landrail is rather more than nine inches long, and its general 

 bulk of body is considerably compressed. The bill is light browB, 

 and its eyes hazel. Most of the feathers on the upper part of the 

 plumage are of a dark brown hue, edged with pale rust ; both 

 winged coverts and quiUs are of a deep chestnut colour. The fore- 

 part of the neck and breast are pale and ash, and a streak of the 

 same colour extends over each eye, from the bill to the side of the 

 neck. The beUy is p, yellowish wliite, and the tliighs, sides, and 

 vent, are marked with faint rusty-coloured bai'S. The legs are a 

 pale flesh red. 



