238 ORALLY. 



in the same quiet and stealthy manner ; and nothing more is 

 known of them, unless their cover is cut down by the mower : 

 save their regular evening cry of crecq, crecq, which continues 

 probably till the brood are hatched. 



The nest is rude, formed of a little moss and withered 

 grass, and placed in the thickest of the cover ; but it, like 

 the birds, is seldom seen, and when seen, it is generally only 

 to its destruction. If the cover over it is cut down, the 

 birds desert the nest though it should remain untouched. 

 Indeed the female sits so close that, if the cover is mown 

 there is some danger of her being killed by the scythe, un- 

 observed by the mower. The eggs are very numerous, 

 resembling more in that respect the field Gallinse than any 

 of the marsh birds. As many as sixteen eggs have been 

 found in one nest ; but sometimes there are not half that 

 number. They are of a dull reddish white, blotched with 

 ash colour and rusty brown. The young run as soon as they 

 break the shell : but it is some time before they are capable 

 of flight. 



Flying is not indeed a practice either with old or young, 

 while they remain in this country. I have been, for the 

 whole time that they are with us, in places where they were 

 very numerous, and yelping incessantly on every side (for 

 even among them it seems that the males strive with each 

 other in their cries), but I never saw one on the wing or 

 (often) any other way. There is, in fact, no raising of them ; 

 nor is it much better to invade their cover and storm them. 

 The form of their bodies is such, that they glide among the 

 roots of the corn without occasioning the least move or 

 rustle ; and though one march as if direct upon the sound, 

 that sound ceases for a little, and then begins again as far in 

 the rear ; and if you turn to it in its second place, it is not 

 long before it comes nearly from the direction of the first. 

 The corn-crakes take their departure generally in the month 



