( 83 ) 

 A REPORT ON THE LAND-RAIL INQUIRY. 



BY 



H. a ALEXANDER, m.b.o.tj. 



Observations on the status of the Land-Rail {Crex 

 crex) as a breeding species have been sent in from 

 over one hundred and seventy centres in England and 

 Wales and from a few in Scotland and Ireland. The 

 schedules received in 1913 dealt very thoroughly with 

 some districts in England, but a number of counties 

 were quite untouched ; accordingly, this year I have 

 tried to get information from the latter districts, 

 and have not asked for further information from last 

 year's observers. To some extent the gaps have been 

 filled, but, as will be seen from the map, there are 

 still considerable areas from which no information has 

 been sent, including the counties of Cornwall, Oxford, 

 Huntingdon, Northampton, Rutland, and Durham. 

 The information from Wales is still very meagre. I 

 have consulted the Victoria County Histories and the 

 recent county books, as well as various notes in the 

 Zoologist, chiefly in 1911, when a correspondence took 

 place on the subject. 



The centres marked on the map are not, of course, 

 all of equal value ; some observers have been able to 

 send information derived from various sources over 

 quite a large area — even a whole county — and for a 

 number of years, whilst others — unfortunately their 

 number is much larger — have only been able to give the 

 facts for one or two years over a few square miles. 



I think it will be most satisfactory to give an outHne 

 of the facts for each county. 



Beginning in the south-west, the Land-Rail was 

 described as rather scarce in Cornwall in 1906 {Vict. 

 Hist.) though formerly abundant. The two observers 

 in Devon have no recent information of any breeding 

 in their districts, though some used to breed about 



