86 BRITISH BIRDS. [vol. vm. 



to twenty years ago or earlier, even in the flat clay 

 country of the Weald, where it was evidently quite 

 common. 



In Essex the decrease was first observed in the 

 'seventies or even in the 'fifties ; at the present day 

 only occasional pairs are noted as breeding from time 

 to time. The recent information from Suffolk is 

 to the same effect, but it was evidently not a rare 

 species many years ago. In Norfolk the decrease 

 seems to have taken place rather more recently, and 

 a few still nest in the north-east of the county, but in 

 other parts it has been absent for at least ten or fifteen 

 years, perhaps longer. The only positive information 

 from Cambridgeshire is of a pair in the Cam flats in 

 1914 ; it is evidently some years since it was a regular 

 breeding-bird. The statement made in 1904 that it 

 was " common " {Handbook of Nat. Hist, of Camh.) 

 suggests that the decrease has been rapid. 



I have been unable to discover anything about 

 Huntingdonshire ; in 1902 the vague statement 

 is made that the Land-Rail was " common " in 

 NoRTHAivtPTONSHiRE {Vict. Hist.), but this seems rather 

 unHkely. In Rutland, in 1907 and 1908, it was 

 regarded as by no means common and much decreased 

 {Birds of Rutland and Vict. Hist.). In Lincolnshire 

 the species is evidently scarce, but not extinct ; 

 in some parts the numbers fluctuate. Quite in the 

 north it is fairly regular — about one to a square mile 

 on the Wolds and rather more in the marshes. 



In south Nottinghamshire a few remain : formerly 

 it was very plentiful {Vict. Hist., 1906). Some still 

 occur annually in Leicestershire. In south Derby 

 the Land-Rail had decreased very much, but they were 

 common in 1908, increased in 1911, and have appeared 

 in fair numbers since ; further north in the meadows 

 below the Pennines the number is still estimated 

 as six pairs to a square mile. 



