142 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CH. XXIX. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 



The Landrail ; Arrival and Habits of — Cuckoo — Swift — 

 Associations connected with Birds — Enjoyment of Life by- 

 Birds — Falcons — Water-Fowl ; their different modes of 

 Swimming — Wild-fowl shooting — Wounded Ducks — Re- 

 trievers ; care which should be taken of them — Plumage of 

 Water-Fowl ; its imperviousness to wet ; the cause and limits 

 of this. 



The landrail is one of the most numerous and most 

 regular of our birds of passage. For several sea- 

 sons the 1st of May has been the earliest day on 

 which I have noticed them. At first I hear a single 

 bird or two croaking in some small patch of early 

 wheat or long clover : their numbers then increase 

 rapidly every day. In the early morning I see 

 them along the sides of the paths, and more par- 

 ticularly near grassy ditches. The rapidity with 

 which this bird threads its way through thickly- 

 growing clover is astonishing. With head crouched 

 to the ground it glides, in a horizontal position, 

 almost vdth the quickness of an arrow, scarcely 

 moving the grass as it passes through it. One 

 moment he is at your feet, and the next he is 

 standing far off, with erect head and neck, and 



