138 DICTIONARY OF NAMES OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



LADY LENTLY : The GARDEN- WARBLER is so called in some 



parts of Northumberland. (Bolam.) 

 LADY SNIPE : The COMMON SNIPE. (Cheshire.) 

 LADY WITH THE TWELVE FLOUNCES. Swainson gives this as a 



Shropshire name for the GOLDFINCH. 

 LANCEOLATED WARBLER [No 134]. A Siberian species 



which has occurred recently in Great Britain. 

 LAND BUNTING: The CORN-BUNTING. (Provincial.) 

 LAND CORMORANT: The GOOSANDER. (Dublin.) 

 LAND CURLEW : The STONE -CURLEW. 

 LAND DAW: The CARRION-CROW. (Northants.) 

 LAND DOTTEREL : The DOTTEREL (Spurn, Yorkshire.) 

 LAND-DRAKE : The LAND-RAIL. (Shropshire ; Ackworth, 



Yorkshire.) 

 LANDHARLAN: The RED-BREASTED MERGANSER. (Wex- 



ford.) Harlan is a form of " Harle " (q.v.). 

 LAND HEN : The LAND-RAIL. (Willughby.) 



LAND LAVROCK : The COMMON SANDPIPER and the RINGED 

 PLOVER. (Scotland.) Lavrock=Lark. 



LAND MAUL : The BLACK-HEADED GULL. (East Yorkshire.) 



LAND-RAIL [No. 454]. Commonly known also as the Corn- 

 Crake (q.v.). Occurs in Willughby (1678) as Land Rail, 

 Land-Hen, and Daker Hen. Most subsequent writers from 

 Pennant to Montagu call it the Crake Gallinule. Montagu 

 also gives Land-Rail, but as a provincial name. Rail is 

 from Fr. Rdle, Germ. Ealle, from Low Latin Rallus. It is 

 mentioned by Turner, who calls it Crex after Aristotle, and 

 gives " Daker Hen " as the English name for it. He well 

 describes its cry when he says that it "in spring as well 

 as early summer makes no other cry among the corn and 

 flax than crex, crex." In Scotland if its call is frequently 

 heard it is regarded as a sign of rain. A French name is 

 " Roy de Cailies " (=King of the Quails), from an old belief 

 that the Quails selected a Land-Rail to lead their migrations. 

 A Scots belief was that the bird did not migrate, but became 

 torpid in the winter. Newton says, "formerly it seems 

 to have been a popular belief in England that the Land 

 Rail in autumn transformed itself into a Water Rail, 

 resuming its own character in spring." This belief seems 

 to still prevail in Ireland. The Land Rail is considered a 

 lucky bird on the Scottish Borders, where the saying runs : 

 The Lark, the Corn Crake, or the Grouse, 

 Will bring good luck to ilka house. 



