NATURE AND SPORT IN BRITAIN 



from its incessant call, and its presence, although of 

 course the farmer well knows the bird and its family 

 to be about his fields, would, by the uninitiated, be 

 absolutely undreamed of. 



In addition to its familiar British names, landrail 

 and corncrake, this bird is also known locally as the 

 daker-hen, land-hen, bean -crake, crek, and cracker. 

 An old name for it in some counties was "king of 

 the quails " ; whether that name yet lingers here and 

 there, now that the quail itself has become so scarce, 

 I do not know. The name "king of the quails" was 

 obviously bestowed upon the landrail for the reason 

 that the period of its arrival in this country coincided 

 exactly with that of the quails, both birds reaching 

 these shores towards the end of April. Although the 

 landrails mostly disappear from Britain on their south- 

 ward migration during early October, here and there 

 a survivor may be found which remains behind and 

 braves the northern winter. In Ireland, probably from 

 the milder climate of that island, these belated land- 

 rails are found more numerously than in England and 

 Scotland during the winter months. In winter they 

 frequent by choice deep ditches and other sheltered 

 spots, and when chased by dogs will readily take to 

 holes. Probably this bird can, in reality, stand an 

 average winter much better than is generally supposed. 

 It is, on the other hand, pretty certain that the landrail 

 wintering in Britain must, like the woodcock, from the 

 very nature of its food, suffer very severely during a 

 really hard and prolonged spell of frost. 



The sportsman, when one of these curious birds falls 

 to his gun, as he tramps a piece of clover or "seeds" 

 during a still September day, seldom fails to bestow 

 something more than a passing look at the singular 

 shape and handsome plumage of the landrail. As the 



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