QRÂLLATORES. RALLIDÆ.
T H E LANDRAIL,
■ or Corn" Crake.
Gallinula era
Rail-us ,,
Gallinula .. „
Oriygométra ,, ' m
< 'rtrke Gai li mile,
Com Crake,.
- pfatensis, Meadow
; Corn
Gallinula rarex. Landrail
Penît. ïin f. lîôof.*volVii. jp.~
“Mont; Orriitte Diet.
BEWicjK^Brit. Birds,, voMill p. 138«
Flem. Brit. An.p. 98i '
Selby, Brit. Ornitüv Vol'. ii. p. 176.
JenynSj Brit. Vert. I|S^|ff§|^
G ould, BirdSjOf4E.urope,jpt. iv.
Poule d’eau d^Gmet, Temm. Man. d’Omith. vol. ii. p. 686.
Cbex, Generic Characterti^rBill shorter than the head, thick at, the base,
subcultrated, compressed; the culinen gradually deflecting from the forehead
to the point of the b ill; lateral furrow of the upper mandible broad, and occupying
mere than half its length ; angle of* the under mandible bending upwards
; "both mandibles of an .equal lengthy Npstrijs concave, lateral, linear,
oveid/jpieited in a membrane oeV^pymg tfie mandibular furrow in
of tbe Wh ;■ Wings armed with a spine, and having the second and third quill-
feather the longest. Legs strong, of mean length, with the lower part of the
tibiae naked. Feét four-toed, three before, one behind. Toes long, slender,
and fcleft to their basé, without any lateral membrane ; hind toe resting almost
Wholly on the ground. Claws arcuate, compressed, and .sharp-pointed.—Selby.
T he Landrail is a summer visiter to this country, generally
making its appearance in the. southern counties during
the/last ten .days of A pril, ;. but in Yorkshire, and still farther
north, as mentioned by Mr. Selby and others, it is seldom
-observed or heard till ^the second week in May. I t frequents
the lqrtg grass of marshy water-meadows near rivers, beds of
osiers or reeds, and fields of green com, where its presence
is indicated by its creaking note i and hence one of its names,
that o f Corn Crake, or,; Corn, Creak, by which latter term it
ISjyalsQ known in Ireland. This call-note may be imitated
by passing, the edge of the, thumb-nail, or a piece of wood,
briskly along the line, of the points of the teeth of a small
comb ; and so similar is the sound, that the bird may be
decoyed by it within a very short distance. The male bird
is §j|! caller, and he continues the note until a mate be found
and incubation commenced ;. after which he is less frequently
heard.. A Landrail, kept some time in confinement, uttered
besides a low guttural sound when alarmed or disturbed. Pennant
mentions, that Landrails.were plentiful in Anglesey about
the third week in April, and the birds were supposed to pass
from thence to Ireland : it was common to kill seven or eight
in a morning. Mr. Selby mentions, also, that he has killed
eight or ten in the course of an hour, in a single field, in the
rich meadows upôn the 'banks of the Trent, below Newark; a
favourite locality, which is annually visited by great numbers
of Crakes.
The food of the Landrail consists of worms, slugs, snails,
and insects, with small portions of vegetable matter and a
few seeds. The nest is formed on the ground, of dry plants ;