158 



THE LAND-RAIL. 



Crej' pratens'is Beclist. 



The Land-Rail benan to arrive in small numbers about the 

 fourth week in April, the records up till the 25th of that 

 month referring almost entirely to single birds. It is 

 probable that these earlier immigrants arrived on the western 

 half of the south coast, as the great majority were observed 

 in the western half of the country and in Wales. On this 

 point, however, it is not possible to speak with certainty, as 

 there were no records from the counties on the south coast. 

 A second small immigration in the west was indicated about 

 the 23rd by the records from Devon, Wiltshire and Somerset, 

 for the birds in the western counties became generally more 

 numerous after that date, while a greater number were 

 noted in Carnarvon on the 26th, and in Shropshire on the 

 27th, and later reports told of an increase in Denbigh, 

 Lancashire, Staffordshire, Yorkshire, the Isle of Man and 

 Cumberland on subsequent days. The slight increase ob- 

 served in Cambridge on the 28th may also point to a spread 

 in that direction from the west. A further small immigration 

 arrived in Hampshire on the 4th of May, and was followed 

 by another in Thanet, East Kent, on the 6th, while a bird 

 killed against telegraph-wires in Cornwall on the 8th may 

 point to a fresh arrival in the west. The latter supposition 

 is borne out to some extent by the increase noticed in the 

 western counties and in Wales during the following days. 

 The birds which had arrived in Kent had all disappeared by 

 the 10th of May, but the records do not indicate in what 

 direction they went; it may, however, be pointed out that 

 the Land-Rail was again exceedingly scarce over the whole of 



