452 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



and I have heard and read that the same thing has happened in 

 many parts of the country. In some summers lately I have 

 heard none at all here, but I heard one this year near Banbury, 

 in a small field of hay-grass, and another near Bampton ; and my 

 brother in Northamptonshire, about twelve miles from here, 

 heard one there, the first he has heard since he went there to live 

 in 1895. Possibly the tide may have turned. The last summer 

 that we had any number of Corn-Crakes was 1885, when I 

 heard three calling at the same time. Some people think that 

 the use of mowing machines has caused the Corn-Crakes to 

 desert us, or exterminated the race which came here to breed. 

 But I cannot understand in what way the machines could have 

 affected them, as I never heard of Corn-Crakes being cut to 

 pieces by them, and plenty of nests were mown out in the days 

 of the scythe. At all events, if Corn-Crakes came back to us, 

 they would find ample breeding accommodation ; for the custom 

 of the farmers selling hay has assumed the last two or three 

 years such enormous proportions that I should think the acreage 

 of grass-land shut up for mowing is at least double what it used 

 to be five and twenty years ago ; and so much of this, from want 

 of sufficient labour, stands until so late in the season, that the 

 Corn-Crakes would in many fields be able to hatch off their 

 young long before the rattle of the machine sounded the notice 

 of ejectment. We still see, in some years, a good many passing 

 migrants in September. Probably these birds have been bred in 

 Ireland or Wales, where they still abound.] 



Coot (Fulica atra). — Breeds at Bolny and Lashbrook, &c. 



Grey-lag Goose (Anser ferus) , Bean-Goose (A. segetum), 

 White-fronted Goose (A. albifrons). — All these have been shot 

 a few times ; the first is the least common. The White-fronted 

 Goose has occurred here repeatedly in winter. 



Bernicle Goose (Bernicla leucopsis). — Has been shot here a 

 few times in winter. 



Brent Goose (B. brenta). — Has occurred a few times. I 



three years they gradually increased, until in 1867 very considerable numbers 

 were located in the district. He adds: — "Curiously enough, however, since 

 this period it appears to have entirely left the neighbourhood, as during the 

 dry seasons of 1868-70, and now in 1871, I have never heard its call." — ■ 

 (' Birds of the Humber District,' pp. 142, 143.) 



