RALLIDA. 507 
THE LAND-RAIL. 
CrEX PRATENSIS, Bechstein. 
The Land-Rail, also known as the Corn-Crake, is widely dis- 
tributed in summer throughout the British Islands. It usually makes 
its appearance in the southern counties of England during the last 
ten days of April, though in Yorkshire and northward it is seldom 
heard till the first or second week in May, and only towards the end 
of that month in the Shetlands. Westward, it has been obtained 
in St. Kilda, and it is common in the Outer Hebrides, where it is 
probable that a few birds occasionally pass the winter. This is 
undoubtedly the case in Ireland, and, more rarely, in England ; but 
the majority have taken their departure before October. The bird 
may be found wherever there is grass-land. 
This species occasionally breeds in the Fzroes, but its occurrence 
in Iceland has not been authenticated, though an example was 
obtained in South Greenland in 1851 and another in May 1892. 
Individuals which had, no doubt, availed themselves of the assist- 
ance of vessels, have frequently been ‘obtained of late years on the 
eastern sea-board of the United States; and in October 1847 one was 
shot in the Bermudas. As a wanderer the Land-Rail has been found 
in the Azores and Madeira, while in the southern countries of Europe 
