L AND-IIAI L. 
CREX PRATENSIS. 
and.llail or Corn-Crake is widely distnbuted oyer the British Islands, being remarkably plentiful in the 
eultivated portions of many of the remotest Highland glens; in the west of Pertbsl.ire I found this speeies 
cxcee mg y numerous also m the east of Ross-shiro and even still further north. It oecasionally happens in 
certain parts of he n.gblands that the hay is not cut till well on in Septeiiiher ; in such localities tliLe birds 
commonly take heir departure unnoticed, unless attention is attracted to their presence by the monotonous 
croaking note, a\ Inch may usually be heard soon after the beginning of May. 
On two or three occasions in the autumn of 1867 I met with downy 'nestlings, that could hardly have 
quitted he egg above a couple of days, so late as the first week in September. In all probability these w-ere 
second broods arge numbers of full-grown young resorting to the same piece of land-a stretch of rou^li 
mars ly ground (that furnished a scanty crop of hay) adjoining the course of the Lyon in the west of Perthshire 
11 e making a few casts for trout in Juno 1800 I was somewhat surprised to see a Land-Rail, which had been 
disturbed by a retriever, run down the sloping bank towards the river and without pausing a moment drop 
quietly into the w ater and strike boldly out tor the opposite shore ; in less than a minute the do. arrived on 
he spo ana immediately sighting the bird, now in mid-stream, plunged in and captured it beLe gainin. 
f h r “ ^ not received tbe slightest injury, being blessed with the 
ul use of both wings and legs, so that its taking to the water was entirely a matter of choice. 
Pishing being evidently looked upon as an exceedingly dull pursuit by old Nell (the black retriever 
frequently alluded to in these pages), I always allowed her to hunt over tbe rough ground in the immediate 
vicinity, and many broods of young and nests of eggs, that would otherwise have escaped my observation were 
detected. On no occasion was the least damage done to the downy mites she offered for insnection ■ 
juvenile Oyster-eatehers, Sandpipers, Redshanks, and Ducklings were frequently captured and afterwards 
returned to the care of the old birds. The pursuit of Land-Rails, however, appeared to afford her the .reatest 
amusement, and specimens in all stages of plumage were at various times brought from the hav-fleld“to tl 
I have never met with any statements as to whether this species crosses the Channel in Hocks • it is 
however, evident that they occasionally arrive in large quantities, though possibly not in company While 
searching round the hedgerows in the vicinity of the coast of West Sussex early one morning durin- the 
first week in May 1867, to ascertain what migrants had reached our shores during the nio-ht I noticed 
immense quantities of the smaller Warblers and also several Land-Rails, no less than twelve or fourteen of tL 
latter being put on wing from a rough hank not more than a couple of hundred yards in length ; scattered 
birds were also found in the adjoining fences and the coarse grass bordering the plantations. ”on searching 
over the ground the following morning not a single specimen of this species was seen. 
Previous to making a move towards the south in autumn Land-Rails frequently collect in large numbers in 
