THE SPOTTED CRAKE. 239 



of September. They are silent for some time before they 

 depart, and do not then keep so closely in cover (indeed there 

 there is not so much cover for them), but they feed during 

 the night, or twilight, and squat and lurk during the day, so 

 that they are not often seen even then. 



Though there is no music in the cry of the crake, which is 

 far more monotonous than that of the cuckoo, and though 

 there is great difficulty in getting a sight of the bird itself, 

 yet there is a liveliness about it ; and there are many of the 

 northern places where the summer evenings would be as dull 

 without the crake, as those in the south of England would be 

 without the nightingale. In those open places, half culti- 

 vated, half wild, the air of the summer twilight, which lasts 

 all night long, is peculiarly pleasant and favourable for a 

 journey ; and after a long stretch over the hill, with nothing 

 to see and little to hear, save now and then a started grous- 

 cock, or a snipe or bittern, rising without any starting, it is 

 pleasant to come within hearing of the crake, as the sound of 

 its voice always tells of cultivation and cottages.* 



THE SPOTTED CRAKE (Crex porzano). 



The spotted crake is also a summer visitant, resembling 

 the corn-crake in many of its habits, but said to be more 

 aquatic, and thus somewhat intermediate between the corn- 

 crake and the rail. It is much more rare as a British bird 

 than the other ; and confined chiefly to the south and west 

 of England. It arrives earlier and remains later than the 

 other, frequents the tall herbage by the sides of pools and 

 streams, rather than the corn-fields. It is a bird of retired 

 disposition ; and therefore its manners as a British bird are 



* Rich meadow-grounds, near water, and of a humid character, are 

 the favourite localities of the corn-crake, and it threads the tall grass 

 with singular ease and rapidity. It can seldom be flushed without the 

 aid of a dog trained to the sport. Its flight is low and short, with the 

 feet hanging down. M. 



