66 LAND-BAIL. 



cause. In Cornwall it is said to be rather rare, and in 

 Cambridgeshire; in Norfolk only a few stay to breed, the 

 greater numbers that are seen are only passing visitors. 



Its favourite haunts are low meadows of mowing grass, 

 clover fields, willow beds, fields of growing corn, and any such 

 like fastnesses as can afford it a secure hiding-place. 



They conduct their migration by night, and arrive in 

 England about the last week in April, reaching the northern 

 parts of the kingdom aboui^ the beginning of the first week 

 in May, but some have been seen by the end of April. 

 Their arrival in the south seems to be rather later, namely, 

 in the second week in May. Their departure takes place 

 early in October, but one is recorded to have been killed 

 near London, in December, 1834; one near Yarmouth, in 

 Norfolk, in January, 1836; and one in Ireland on the 29th. 

 of March, but whether it was a newly-arrived bird, or one 

 that had stayed through the previous winter, cannot be 

 aflirmed. Instances have occurred of some individuals re- 

 maining throughout the winter, but only exceptions to the 

 general rule. Mr. Edward Elyth mentions in the 'Magazine 

 of Natural History,' volume viii, page 512, one thus met 

 with at Tooting, Surrey, about the middle of December, 

 1834, and it was at the time in good condition. One was 

 killed in Scotland, in Kircudbrightshire, not far from Dumfries, 

 on the 19th. of February, 1853; it, too, was in fine plumage, 

 and equally good bodily order. One in Oxfordshire, near 

 Henley-on-Thames, on the 4th. of November, 1851. One in 

 Lancashire, at Lytham, near Preston, by C. Nelson, Esq., M.D., 

 on the 10th. of the same month in the following year. One 

 seen in Ihe Cambridge market on the 7th. of November, 

 1851, but it had the mark of a wound on the wing, which 

 had no doubt prevented it from migrating. On the 2nd. of 

 December, 1851, another' was shot near Plymouth, Devonshire, 

 which had not left our shores, though, to all appearance, 

 'sound, wind and limb.' In the same year, on the 18th. of 

 February, one had been taken near Bembridge, in the Isle 

 of Wight. In Sussex, one near Rottingdean, on the 27th. 

 of November, 1844. Another was shot near Eye, in the 

 same county, just before Christmas, 1848, and another was 

 seen near the same place the following February. In the 

 winter of 1846-7, during a severe frost, with snow on the 

 ground, a Land-Bail was constantly seen feeding with the 

 fowls in a farm-yard in the parish of Fringford, Oxfordshire, 



