Corncrake

“ Our corncrake—I don't know what the usual standard may be—does ninety-eight to the minute. He is as regular as the ticking of a clock. You can't hustle him and you can't wear him out. At times when I have thought he might be getting tired and thirsty I have imagined that he was slowing down ”

“ The arrival of the corncrake in the north of Ireland has no connexion with the early or late state of the meadows. I have remarked the bird here when they hardly concealed its body from view, and in other years that it would not appear until two or three weeks after they were ready for its reception. Fields of grain and clover are also resorted to, so soon after the bird's arrival as they will afford shelter. ”

“ Not only does the nightingale sing by day, but she is by no means the only bird which sings at night. We have frequently listened with delight to the wood lark, skylark, thrush, sedge-warbler and grasshopper-warbler long after sunset, and we have heard the cuckoo and corncrake at midnight. ”

“ The cattle, mostly black, occupy some fields and are milked in the fields; other land is under crops. The grating song of the corncrake resounded from all the fields of long grass, for this bird is an abundant inhabitant of the lower land. A few stunted thorns barely manage to top the wind-swept banks, and brambles grow on the sheltered sides ”

“ Slowly the golden memory of the dead sun fades from the hearts of the cold, sad clouds. Silent, like sorrowing children, the birds have ceased their song, and only the moorhen’s plaintive cry and the harsh croak of the corncrake stirs the awed hush around the couch of waters, where the dying day breathes out her last.
From the dim woods on either bank, Night’s ghostly army, the grey shadows, creep out with noiseless tread to chase away the lingering rear-guard of the light, and pass, with noiseless, unseen feet, above the waving river-grass, and through the sighing rushes; ”

“ The magnitude of their labour could be easily inferred from the appearance of the nest: each grass-blade [Pg 122] carried thither had been bitten into dozens of fragments, and the structure filled the entire space beyond the first of the exposed roots, though its interior, till from frequent use it changed its form, seemed hardly able to accommodate the female vole.
In this tight snuggery, at a time when the corncrake's nocturnal music was first heard in the meadow by the pool, five midget water-voles, naked and blind, were born. ”

“ One of the birds most commonly ‘telegraphed’ with us, both in its spring and autumn ‘flittings,’ is the Landrail (Crex pratensis) , or perhaps better known as the Corncrake; indeed, in the spring migration I have known of its presence among us through this means, some time before its well-known call-note was heard; although, occasionally, individual birds stay all the winter with us. Lately, a new line of wires has been put across a common near us, to join others on one of the great north roads. ”

“ Among men customs survive for centuries after the original meaning has been lost. I had always been told by country people that the missel-thrush was a solitary bird, and when I first observed a pack and mentioned it some incredulity was expressed. Very naturally in summer people do not see much but hay and wheat. It was noticed on the farms about the Chace in the springs of 1878 and 1879 that the corncrakes, which had formerly been so numerous and proclaimed their presence so loudly, were scarcely heard at all. ”

“ They inhabit a cage together with a ruff, starlings, thrushes, blackbirds, &c. A supply of chopped beef heart, of which all its denizens partake, is daily put in the cage. The corncrakes probably share in various other kinds of food supplied by visitors to the gardens. They show no symptoms of torpidity, though much exposed to cold. The species simulates death when surprised, and in this state, probably, has been supposed to be torpid. ”

“ As by day the distance could be seen, but its tender lilac tint had gone, quenched by the evening darkness, in which the whole steppe was hidden like Moisey Moisevitch’s children under the quilt.
Corncrakes and quails do not call in the July nights, the nightingale does not sing in the woodland marsh, and there is no scent of flowers, but still the steppe is lovely and full of life. As soon as the sun goes down and the darkness enfolds the earth, the day’s weariness is forgotten, everything is forgiven, and the steppe breathes a light sigh from its broad bosom. ”

“ It runs, occasionally flirting up its tail, through its tracks, with the same swiftness as the corn crake runs through the meadows and cornfields, shows as great an aversion to take flight as that bird, and has more of the means in its power of disappointing the sportsman. ”

“ THE CORN-CRAKE AND HIS MATE A Cora-crake had made a nest in the meadow late in the year, and at mowing time his Mate was still sitting on her eggs. Early in the morning the peasants came to the meadow, took off their coats, whetted their scythes, and started one after another to mow down the grass and to put it down in rows. The Corn-crake flew up to see what the mowers were doing. When he saw a peasant swing his scythe and cut a snake in two, he rejoiced and flew back to his Mate and said :
" Don't fear the peasants ! They have come to cut the snakes to pieces ”

“ Three hundred fathoms below the ground at Cook’s Kitchen mine, near Camborne, swarms of flies may be heard buzzing, called by the men, for some unknown reason, “Mother Margarets.” From being bred in the dark, they have a great dislike to light.
Swallows in olden times were thought to spend the winter in deep, old disused Cornish tin-works; also in the sheltered nooks of its cliffs and cairns. It is the custom here to jump on seeing the first in spring. [132]
A water-wagtail, in Cornwall a “tinner,” perching on a window-sill, is the sign of a visit from a stranger. ”

“ Corn-Crakes are occasionally found to have a great fondness for water. An anecdote is related by Craven, in his “Young Sportsman’s Manual,” of a young bird of this species, in the possession of a Mr. Jervis, which had a remarkable partiality for water, in which it would dive and splash, as if unused to any other element. ”

“ The merry queen of the harvest, worked in the tapestry, had no doubt been chosen after the usual Cornish fashion. The women reaped in Cornwall, while the men bound, and whoever reaped the last lock of corn was proclaimed queen. As all were ambitious of this honor, the women used to hide away an unreaped lock under a sheaf, and when all the field seemed cut they would run off to their hidden treasures, in hopes of being the lucky last. When a girl's sweetheart came into the field at the end of the day, he would try to take her sickle away to finish her work. ”

“ The Corn Crake used to be found, during summer, in all the counties of England, but is less frequent in Cornwall and Devonshire than in the counties farther east, and increases in abundance as we advance northwards. ”

“ In a discoid shell the spire is depressed; when held up, the whorls turn from right to left, and the aperture is left-handed. The largest species is P. cornu-arietis, [B] which is a native of Brazil. P. corneus is common in ponds and ditches. Empty shells are to be found at the edge of the water. (Plate 9.) If you take the animal to examine, and study its habits, remember that you have no right to injure it, and that you have already promised me that no kind of cruelty shall take place. ”

“ As years go on, and this layer in its turn splits and peels, others are formed further inward, and if it is remembered that a layer of cork is particularly impervious to water and air, it is easy to understand that each successive sheet of cork cuts off all the tissues on its exterior from participation in the life processes of the plant: consequently we have a gradually increasing bark proper, formed of the accumulated cork layers and other dead tissues. ”

“ He tells us the cork-tree did not grow throughout Italy, and in no part whatever of Gaul. At the present day it is abundant in France, and Fee states that the acorns of Quercus suber are of an agreeable flavor, and the hams of Bayonne are said to owe their high reputation from the pigs having fed on the acorns of the cork-tree. Some ancient authors speak of the cork-tree as the female of the holm-oak (Quercus ilex) , and in countries where the holm does not grow, they used to substitute the wood of the cork tree. ”

“ When a miner goes into an “old level” and sees a bright light, it is a sure sign that he will find tin there. Knockers like spriggans are very ugly beings, and, if you do not treat them in a friendly spirit, very vindictive. “As stiff as Barker’s knee” is a common saying in Cornwall; he having in some way angered the knockers, either by speaking of them disrespectfully or by not leaving (as was formerly the custom) a bit of his dinner on the ground for them (for good luck) , they [129] in revenge threw all their tools in his lap, which lamed him for the rest of his life. ”

“ Relatives from the country used to bring presents of vegetables, and these were often hung up by Corney like Christmas decorations round the kitchen. There was one particular press in the kitchen he would not allow anything into. He would throw it out again. A crock with meat in pickle was put into it, and a fish placed on the cover of the crock. He threw the fish out.
Silver teaspoons were missing, and no account of them could be got until Mrs. A—— asked Corney to confess if he had done anything with them. He said, "They are under the ticking in the servants' bed." ”

“ Another Cornishman informed the writer that one night, thinking something was disturbing some of his cattle, he went out into his field to see what was the matter; when he endeavoured to return to the house, owing to the piskies he could not find the gate again, and had to spend [Pg 153] several weary hours wandering round and round the hedges in a vain and exasperating search in rain and darkness, at one time floundering in a nettle bed, at another in mud and water over the tops of his boots. ”

“ When he swallows it you shall see it, in a bulge, pass along and round his neck; down it goes and backward, in a gradual curve, until it disappears among the feathers—corkscrews, in fact. Observe, I recommend an apple for this demonstration. Dominoes and clinkers are all very well, but they rattle about inside, and disturb the visitors; and with an apple you will the more plainly observe that corkscrew. ”

“ The cortex or outer bark serves to protect the stem of the tree from extremes of heat and cold, from atmospheric changes, and from the browsing of animals. It is made up of a tough water-proof layer of cork which has taken the place of the tender skin or "epidermis" of the twig. Because it is water-proof the outside tissue is cut off from the water supply of the tree, and so dries up and peels off, a mass of dead matter. The cork and the dead stuff together are called the bark. ”

“ The outer layer of bark in the cork oak by annual additions from within gradually becomes a thick soft homogeneous mass, possessing those compressible and elastic properties upon which the economic value of the material chiefly depends. The first stripping of cork from young trees takes place when they are from fifteen to twenty years of age. The yield, which is rough, unequal and woody in texture, is called virgin cork, and is useful only as a tanning substance, or for forming rustic work in ferneries, conservatories, &c. ”

“ While this grows, it increases by a living layer of cork-cambium on its inner face, but it usually dies after a few years. In some trees it goes on growing for many years. It forms the layers of bark in the Paper Birch and the cork of commerce is taken from the Cork Oak of Spain. The green bark is of cellular tissue, with some green coloring matter like that of the leaves; it is at first the outer layer, but soon becomes covered with cork. It does not usually grow after the first year. Scraping the bark of an old tree, we find the bark homogeneous. ”

“ About the cliffs may still be seen the Cornish chough, with its scarlet legs, but the bird is becoming scarce. The south coast of Cornwall is now entirely deserted by the choughs, and the only remaining colonies are found at intervals on the side facing the Atlantic. Unhappily visitors are doing their utmost to get them exterminated by buying the young birds that are caught and offered for sale. ”

“ The development of the layers of cork which now surround the thickening axis-cylinder go on forming year after year, as the cambium forms more xylem and phloëm and so thickens the root; were this not the case, the layer of cork would soon be ruptured as the root increases in diameter. Such rupture, in fact, does occur, but the cork-forming tissue in the pericycle goes on growing and acts as a cork-cambium, and repeatedly develops more cork to make good the layers which are being split and worn off in the soil. ”

“ The corn-crake is a little bird, but it has shown us that some of the most ordinary natural occurrences cannot be explained by known natural laws, and must therefore be regarded, for the present, as supernatural, and for the rest, be taken on faith. ”

“ The length of the three portions together is 38 inches; average breadth is about 3 inches; teeth perfectly distinct and set. A small hole is seen at the end of one of the fragments. This relic was found at east side, external to the circle of stockades surrounding the log pavement (Fig. 43) .
Fig. 135. Fig. 136. Fig. 137.—Iron (1⁄4) .
Iron Weapons (1⁄2) .
12. An iron shears, 61⁄4 inches long (Fig. 138) , was discovered on the site of the crannog by Captain William Gillon, 71st Highland Light Infantry, F.S.A. Scot. ”