CORNCRAKE 



221 



A stately, well-shaped, and active bird, a crane generally walks with long 

 measured steps, although this dignified manner is given up when, in sport, the 

 bird performs various quaint bows and leaps, spreading at the same time its graceful 

 wings to the wind. Even then, however, its attitudes and movements are more 

 graceful than those of the stork, for which it is often mistaken, especially when on 

 the wing. Although one of the shyest of the central European birds, when kept in 

 domestication a crane soon grows very tame, and will live to the age of forty 

 years. In the farmyard a crane is a useful bird, as it will separate quarrelling 

 poultry by kicks and loud cries, and lead geese to the pasture, keeping them 

 ton-ether, and also growing so tame that it will allow itself to be handled, and 

 will follow its master like a dog, entering even the house and eating out of a 

 special dish. It is, however, a somewhat dangerous companion, on account of its 

 habit of pecking at the face and eyes. 





THE CORNCRAKE OR LANDRAIL. 



Corncrake or Between the cranes and the rails, in spite of a marked difference 



Landrail. in habit, there seems to be an evident although distant relationship. 

 The rails are very thin in the body and short in the wing, with an abbreviated 

 tail. Their powers of flight are not remarkable, and they are seldom seen in the 

 open except when driven out of the covert in which they spend most of their lives, 

 favoured by their slimness in making their way among the closely growing stems 

 of grasses and reeds. 



The familiar corncrake or landrail (Crex pratensis) frequents fertile meadows 

 abounding in flowers, green corn-fields, clover, and pea-fields or other fairly 

 dry places, including hilly and mountainous districts. Arriving in central 

 Europe in the second half of May, it makes its presence known by the 

 peculiar pairing-call, a ventriloquial crake-crake not easy to locate, particularly 

 as the bird keeps carefully out of sight. The nest, which is built either 



