during the last ten days of April; but in Yorkshire-; and
still further north, it is seldom observed or heard till the
first or second week in May. In the Shetland Islands it
only makes its appearance towards tbe end of that month,
the herbage even then being too scanty tO afford the
requisite concealment. Generally distributed throughout
the mainland of Scotland, it also goes to the most outlying
of the Hebrides: even to the remote St. Hilda. Da- Ireland,
where a large portion of the country is under pasture, it ir
fairly abundant. The rich meadows upon the banks of the
Trent below Newark : the Yale of Purbeck : the neighbourhood
of Battle in Sussex : and the Island of Anglesey* Itaye
each been noted for the abundance of this" species; and in
Devonshire, the Rev. Robert Holdsworth, has stated .tha?J he
was present at the killing of as many as thirteen;?couple in
a Single day in Beptember, at which season Land Rails Congregate
before leaving the country. In the neigbSourjiood
of Selborne, in Gilbert White’s time, it was sq rare that
Seldom more than one or two were, seen in a.season,, and
then only i n autumn; but owing probably jet®.' the ^ c le a rin g
of the for^sf, and the increase of pasture land* this is> no
longer the . case* for Mr, ■ J: \I|: “Halting .jjtates, in an Editorial
note to his edition of ‘ Whitens History "pjf Selborne ’
(p. 328), that -he has killed three ^ brace in a Sep,tem®%/day.
By tbpr, beginning of October the majority have takep.-Meir
departure, but’ numerous instances -abe 'oA record- dyltgbr-
jences both in England and Ireland in November and
.December, and sometimes 4n January and TfeJjjuaj'y.
Sir R. Payne-Gallwey states ^{AlCheti-dB^wler in Ireland,’
p. 251)’that he has tjvi^^mu'nd' Lafid Rails, 'toi'aH 'appearance
asleep, in,the latter, month*^ns^pneed in'thp^ntfp of
loose .«stone walls elosef*ato - the ground ; and Mr. R$eves,/ef
Capard, ’ has- ^tated^tbM^Ke^fook %
semi-comatose stale1 out of a r a b b i t - h b l c ' t h Ielnhary,
1882', and^tKdrs^'fn' the same manner in former. yefers.
Land Rails have;also been shot - in .mistake for Wbf#d&®cks
in winter, especially;: on , the, promontories -of the-.west coast
of Ireland.
A summer visitor in; small numbers to -the Eseroes,
the Land Rail occurs at that season in Norway up tOJthe
Arctic circle, and, more locally, in Sweden. Rare m
summer at Archangel, it is generally distributed over-
Russia south of the Baltic,; and throughout Central Europe,
especially at the seasons of migration : breeding in suitable
localities; but in Southern:- Prance; the Spanish Peninsula,
the islands of the Mediterranean, Italy south of
Yenetia, -Greece, -and ,Sbuthern Russia, it is- princi-
pahyb“if not entirely, a bird of passage.* Beyond- tb§
Mediterranean it is "to some-extent a {resident throughout
the winterj; hut numbers of Land Rails- continue -their
migrations across and along the coasts of. Africa down to
Ratal, where, according to 'M r. Ayres, they are at times
abundant; and occasionally to Cape Colony.!,i Mr. Ifernon
Harcourt enumerates this.bspeejeA-Tamong the b ir d s , of
Madeira, and Mr. F. D. Godman was shown examples
obtained in the Azores. East-.hf the Mediterranean, it
appears to be resident in Asia r'Minpr, and, .accordin.g-.-to
Canon Tristram, in Pale stine ; ranging through, Persia to
Afghanistan and Kashmir. Bevertzoff states that it breeds
in Turkestan,.and it occurs in Biberia as far as the Lena ;
but is not .recorded from China or Japan. - . ....
1 The Land Rail is a very ram- straggler to Iceland;
and a single example was obtained, near Godtbaab, Greenland;
in 1851. Professor- Baird states:- that several^ have
occurred pn the eastern . coasts Of, the United States,
and a solitary, individual was shot 4 n the, Bermudas dja
October, 1,841-J In these distant migrations bqth;.;this and
other species probably § avail -thpmselves of-the spars and
rigging j of- passing -vessels on which they can repose unobserved
at night, and npt nnfrequently even by day* ; Mr,
Gould relates -that,, on bis outward voyage to r America, a
Land Rail je ste d , on the ship when mor&^han two hundred
* Ip the south of Rrance the peasants call the Land Rail “ ,roi, des capes*’
and in Spain it» is~ known, by the name of ‘ guion,de ;las,codornipes, owing to
an idea that it*, places It.self 'a t the head .ol-tjbe ..Quails,'-and precedes them on
their migrations.