148 



THE LAND-RAIL. 



Crex prateyisis, Beclist. 



Two Corncrakes recorded in the middle of March in 

 Glamorgan and Somerset had probably passed the winter 

 in the south-west of England or in Ireland. The arrival of 

 immigrants did not begin until the middle of April, and the 

 birds apparently entered the country along most of the south 

 coast, but the majority (if not all) arrived in the western half. 

 About the 18th of April^ when the species was first noticed in 

 Somerset, there must have been an immigration of some size 

 in the M'est, for on the following night three occurred at the 

 Skerries light off Anglesey, and birds were reported from 

 the Isle of Man, Cumberland and the south-west of Scotland 

 during the following week. A second immigration occurred 

 in the west about the 27th and 28th, a single bird being taken 

 at St. Catharine's light (Hants) on the 26th/27th, while the 

 species was first reported from a number of western counties 

 during the next few days. Cumberland was reached on the 

 2nd of May and Carnarvon on the 4th, Durham and North- 

 umberland on the 5th, while stragglers occurred as far east as 

 Berkshire and Suffolk. A further increase in Somerset on 

 the 8th of May probably indicated a third immigration in the 

 west, since it was followed by further increases in Wales, 

 the Isle of Man and the north-west, while the northward 

 passage of these migrants was again recorded at the Welsh 

 Skerries. Further fluctuations of the numbers in Wales and 

 the west Midlands in the last week of May together with 

 the occurrence of three birds at the same light on the 

 23rd/24th indicates a fourth arrival in the west, and the 



