THE CORNCRAKE 573 



It is therefore evident that though the first brood might be hatched 

 off in time for a second laying early in July, the young of the second 

 brood would not be fledged till the beginning of September. On two 

 or three occasions, however, Mr. E. T. Booth met with downy nestlings 

 in the first week of September 1867 in West Perthshire, which could 

 not have been hatched more than a few days. By the end of June 

 though occasionally heard till the end of July or even in August the 

 craking note has ceased, 1 the parents are in full moult, and the long 

 quills of the wing may be found lying about where the birds are plenti- 

 ful. 2 For some ten days they are quite incapable of flight, the primaries 

 and secondaries of both sexes being shed simultaneously. By the end 

 of August the moult is finished : the departure of this species is difficult 

 to observe, but from the beginning of September to late in October there 

 are scattered records of one or two birds evidently on their southward 

 migration. Naumann says that the old birds leave first, and that 

 migration begins towards the end of August and finishes about mid- 

 October, a few stragglers remaining till the end of the month. 



Previous to crossing the Channel, corncrakes frequently assemble 

 in considerable numbers near the coast. E. T. Booth once rode into 

 a party of at least thirty or forty near Crowhurst in September 1860, 

 and describes how eight and a half couple were shot in September 

 near Battle in about two acres of clover, while at least as many more 

 escaped. Large bags are also reported as having been made in Kent 

 at this season, so that apparently the corncrake makes its return 

 migration by way of the south-east of England, although it arrives on 

 the south-west coasts. Mr. Booth also records a curious incident 

 which he witnessed in June. A corncrake, disturbed by a retriever, 

 ran down a sloping bank towards a river, and, without pausing a 

 moment, dropped quietly into the water and struck out boldly for 

 the opposite side. The dog, however, plunged in after it and captured 

 it, but on examination it proved to be quite uninjured, so that its 



1 Exceptional cases are on record in which the crake has been heard in January. See the 

 Field, 1882, vol. lix. pp. 93, 129; 1904, vol. ciii. p. 231. 



! For further details as to the moults of this species see Bonhote, Zoologist, 1900, p. 29. 



VOL. III. 4E 



