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that it had been very plentiful that season near the coast. Mr. Barratt states (Ibis, 1876, p. 213) 

 that he received one from the district of Lydenberg, where it is said to be rare ; Mr. T. E. 

 Buckley (Ibis, 1874, p. 388) obtained one in the Matabili country; and Mr. Gurney writes, 

 respecting its occurrence in Natal (Ibis, 1863, p. 331), as follows : — " These birds are scarce on the 

 coast, but become more plentiful inland. They are only found here during the summer months. 

 Having been once flushed, it is a difficult matter to put them up a second time out of the long 

 grass ; for, besides running with great swiftness, they have a curious method of evading the dogs 

 by leaping with closed wings and compressed feathers over the long grass some three or four 

 yards ; and then running a short distance, they leap again. The scent being thus broken, they 

 generally evade the most keen-scented dogs ; and so quickly are these strange leaps made, that 

 it is only by mere chance that the birds are seen." 



To the eastward the Corn-Crake is found at least as far as Northern India ; and Pallas 

 states that it occurs in Siberia as far east as the Lena. According to Dr. Severtzoff it breeds 

 and occurs on passage in Turkestan. There is a specimen in the British Museum from Persia, 

 obtained by Major St. John, who believes that he shot it at Tehran ; and Dr. Jerdon writes 

 (B. of India, iii. p. 727) that "it is stated to have occurred in Northern India, and is common in 

 Afghanistan. A writer in the ' Bengal Sporting Magazine ' (1842, p. 870) states, I may add, that 

 it has once been obtained in Oudh. In Eastern Asia it does not appear to have been met with ; 

 but it has been said to have been once obtained near Nelson, in New Zealand, which, if correct, 

 is a locality very far outside its normal range. It has also straggled into the Nearctic Region ; 

 for Professor Baird states (B. of N. Am. p. 751) that it has occurred on several occasions on the 

 east coast of the United States ; and Wedderburn records it from the Bermudas, stating that a 

 young male, a bird of the year, was shot on the Pembroke marsh on the 25th October 1847. 



Owing to its secretive habits, and being at the same time a rather noisy bird than otherwise, 

 the Land-Rail is much better known by its harsh, grating note than by any thing else. It is 

 essentially a frequenter of cultivated districts and of the lowlands, though seldom of really wet, 

 swampy ground ; for it prefers meadows and corn-fields, where the ground is open and there are 

 but few bushes or trees. It does not, however, affect very dry soil, but fields where it is neither 

 very wet nor yet very dry, and especially, it would seem, where a few flowers are intermixed with 

 the other herbage ; and it evinces a partiality for clover-fields. In most parts of Europe it is a 

 migrant or, rather, a summer resident, arriving in the spring and leaving again for the south in 

 the autumn, migrating, it would seem, altogether at night, and when on passage flying at a con- 

 siderable altitude. Naumann, who was a most careful field-naturalist, assures us that it always 

 migrates singly, and that in the autumn the old birds leave first, and are followed by their 

 young. As soon as it arrives in the spring it gives notice of its presence by its well-known call. 

 It appears to move about at night, and more especially in the early morning and late evening ; 

 and though it is not unfrequently seen about during the day, yet it prefers, as a rule, to remain 

 quiet then. Its form enables it to run about with ease amongst the grass and corn ; and it always 

 evinces a dislike to taking wing, preferring, if possible, to seek security by running ; and a dog 

 will sometimes spring on and catch one on the ground, so close will they at times crouch 

 before the dogs. Its cry, resembling the syllables crek, crek, crek, may be heard at all times of 

 the day, but more especially early in the morning and late in the evening; and it appears to 



