THE LANDRAIL OR CORNCRAKE. 29 1 



them in the middle of March) along the 

 sedges of rivers, which would be the first places 

 they would make for after their winter rest. I 

 do not see why hybernation of birds is so much 

 scouted, for scores of animals and millions of 

 insects do so. Many fishes, too, become so 

 torpid that you may fish for weeks and not get 

 one, yet some fine day dozens of the kind you 

 look for will reward your patience ; still you 

 have been told or read somewhere that that 

 species migrates from our shores in autumn ' to 

 seek more genial skies,' and that is why they 

 are not caught in winter. The subject is very 

 far from being absurd, though many have con- 

 sidered it equally so with ' Corncrake turning 

 to Water- rail.' I knocked down a ditch bank 

 some years ago in January, and turned out three 

 living Corncrakes, and ate them too. In the 

 year 1861, during November and December, I 

 used frequently to turn out of a particular hole 

 one of these birds ; I caught it at last one night 

 in the hole — or nest I might say, for it was 

 thickly bedded with leaves from a neighbouring 



