LANDRAIL. 107 



GRALLATORES. RALLID/E. 



PLATE CCVI. 



LANDRAIL. 



CREX PRATENSIS. 



The Landrail is a regular summer visitant in Great Britain, 

 and very generally distributed over the kingdom during that 

 time of the year : it arrives early in May from the south of 

 Europe, but, strange to say, we never met with any one 

 person who has seen it arrive ; they must of course travel by 

 night and probably await a favourable wind for crossing the 

 Channel, as their flight seems to us very ill adapted for long 

 journeys or encounters of even a breeze. 



Its geographical distribution extends over most parts of 

 Europe, Asia, Africa, and even the West Indies. In 

 Europe it has been met with very near the highest parts of 

 Norway, but the greater numbers only frequent our climate 

 in the summer, and, during the winter months, inhabit the 

 south of Europe and the warmer regions in general. The 

 chosen localities of the Landrail are low meadows, grassy osier 

 beds and clover. As soon as the bird arrives, it gives notice 

 of its presence by its incessant call-note, crek-crek, crek-crek! 

 pronounced in a hoarse but subdued note ; this note it utters 

 chiefly in the morning and evening, until the hen sits on the 

 eggs. The nest is not often found, owing to its being gener- 



