64 Bolam: The Natural History of Hornsea Mere. 
LANDRAIL.—Usually a few about, but none heard this year; 
nor did I hear of one. 
SPOTTED CRAKE.—One found dead on the side of the Mere, 
in early autumn, a few years ago, was the only one Taylor 
had seen or heard of; but of course such a bird, in such a 
place, is very likely to be overlooked. A pair bred this year 
in Heslop’s reeds. I first heard the call-note on 29th May, 
across the Mere, in advanced twilight, and again many times 
during the following week or so, at dusk and dawn, always 
proceeding from the same spot. By 7th June the calling 
had almost ceased. On the morning of the 8th June I waited 
from 2 a.m. to hear it, in vain till about 3-45, when a fox ran 
into the reeds and started the bird calling, and it kept on for 
about ten minutes. The note is audible a long way off; in 
calm weather a mile or more. Standing talking to Taylor near 
his cottage, about midnight on 5th June (a dull, misty, but 
calm night) I could distinctly hear the Crake calling, and took 
the trouble of following the sound right down to Heslop’s 
reed-bed, in order to be sure that it was the bird ‘singing’ 
in its accustomed place. The distance, as I afterwards meas- 
ured it upon Captain Constable’s 25-inch Ordnance sheet, was 
1833 yards in a direct line. The bird was not heard again 
till 15th July, when, in early dawn, I was in the boat just 
outside the reeds, and it suddenly called, rather low, quite 
close to me. It was almost immediately answered by low 
notes of ¢wit-twit, evidently from several young ones close at 
hand, though it would have been little short of a miracle had 
they been seen in the thick covert. I had no doubt, however, 
of their presence, nor of their identity, the note of the adult 
being easily recognised and the young evidently responding 
Poni, 
WATER-RAIL.—Numerous here and always has been so, 
and is even more common in winter than summer. Some 
years ago a friend of Mr. Constable’s, wishing to obtain some 
eggs, spent a morning in the Low Wood, in spring, before the 
herbage had grown dense, and when the ground used to be 
much drier than it is now, and found five nests with eggs. 
This year, not having any particular occasion to find a nest, 
I did not go much about in the likely places, and only actually 
saw one, but the birds were being constantly heard and seen 
in many places round the Mere, and there were numbers of 
broods. 
WATER-HEN.—Common, of course, but not so numerous as 
might be expected. Foxes levy a heavy toll on them and their 
usually easily accessible nests. 
Coot.—Of course numerous, but not excessively so. They 
do much harm to the crops in the fields bordering the Mere, 
and many are shot by the farmers. Last winter they had a 
Naturalist, 
