68 On the Ornithology oj Wilts \Itallidce\. 



discharge of the big gun must cause.^ I have but one instance of the 

 occurrence of this bird in Wiltshire, when a male was killed at 

 the side of the railway cutting at Langley, in 1850, by Mr. Bethell 

 of Kellaways Mill, and is, I believe, still in his possession. 



Considering the high favour in which all birds of the Snipe 

 family are deservedly held for the table, and the method of dressing 

 these birds, as practised in England, though repudiated abroad ; 

 considering also the positive assertion which I have made that 

 they do not live by suction, but devour worms and various grubs 

 and insects ; it is but fair that I should add that the digestion of 

 all these birds is extraordinarily rapid. 



EALLID^ {The Rails). 



We are now approaching the more essentially aquatic birds, and 

 there are several characteristics in the family of Rails which lead 

 on to the true water-fowl. Thus their bodies are more compressed 

 and boat-shape, and most of them can swim with ease ; their legs 

 are shorter and their feet larger, and with the hind toe more 

 developed than in the preceding family. Their beaks, too, are 

 much harder and stronger, and some of them are furnished with a 

 narrow membrane on the sides of the toes, which is the first 

 approach towards a web-foot. They are for the most part a shy 

 race, and as they generally prefer inland ponds and lakes to the 

 sea-coast, they secrete themselves in the flags and reeds and rushes 

 which border their haunts, and are often found in wet ditches. 

 They creep through the thick cover with amazing quickness, wind- 

 ing their way amidst the dense grass, and are very unwilling to 

 rise on the wing, but when compelled to do so, their flight is heavy 

 and awkward, as might be expected from the shortness of their 

 wings. 



"Land-Rail." {Crex pratensis.) This species known also as the 

 Corn-Crake, is familiar to the partridge shooter, and well known 



> Mr. Thompson, who has more practical knowledge of shore-shooting with 

 the swivel gun than any other author of birds with whose work I am acquainted, 

 will be found in great measure to corroborate this assertion. See his Natural 

 History of Ireland, vol. ii., p. 292, under the head of " Dunlin," and p. 309 

 under the head of " Knot." 



