396 THE CHINESE YACANA.—THE CORNRAKE. 
with equal ease and safety. As their weight is just sufficient to sink the 
leaf a little below the surface, they have quite the appearance of walking on 
the water itself. Tlie Common Jacana inhabits the hotter parts of South 
America, and is abundant in Brazil and Guiana. It possesses large and 
sharp spurs on the wing. It is nota 
very large bird, barely exceeding a 
pigeon in bulk. 
WE now come to the large family of 
the RAILS, a curious group of birds, 
formed for rapid movement, either on 
the ground or through the water, but 
not particularly adapted tor long flights. 
M-nvy species inhabit England.’ 
THE well-known CORNCRAKE, or 
LANDRAIL, is common in almost every 
part of the British Islands, its rough 
grating call being heard wherever the 
.\ hay-grass is long enough to hide the 
\\, utterer. ; 
| The bird runs with wonderful speed 
through the tall grass, and its cry may 
be heard now close at hand, now in the 
distance, nowright, and now left,without 
any other indication of the bird’s where- 
abouts; for so deftly does it thread the 
grass-stems thatscarcely a shaken blade 
eae : indicates its presence, and it is-so wary 
(Bjrraplananus Siacn did thatit keepsitself well hiddenamong the 
thickherbage. Thecry of the Corncrake 
may be exactly imitated by drawing a quill or a piece of stick smartly o er 
the large teeth of a comb, or by rubbing together two jagged strips of bone. 
In either case the bird may be decoyed within sight by this simple 
procedure. 
The nest of the Corncrake is placed on the ground, and is made of dry 
grass arranged in a suitable depression. It generally contains from eight 
to twelve eggs, of a buffy white covered with rusty brown spots. The shell 
is rather thick, and the size of the 
egg large in proportion to the dimen- 
sions of the bird. 
The upper parts of the body are 
elegantly mottled with dark blackish 
brown, ashen, and warm chestnut ; 
the first tint occupying the centre of 
each feather, the second the edges, 
and the third the tips. The wing- 
coverts arerusty red. The throat and 
abdomen are white, and the breast 
is greenish ash, warming into reddish 
rust striped with white on the sides. 
In total length the Cornrake is not 
quite ten inches. 
OUR most familiar example of the 
ORNCAKE.—( Ortyyometra crex. Gallinules is the WATER HEN, some- 
: Loree times called the Moor HFN. 
This bird may be seen in plenty in every river in England, and mostly on 
