LAND-RAIL. 391 
The present autumn (1869), as above stated, has 
been exceptional in the number of land-rails killed in 
various parts of the county. Between the Ist and 7th of 
September Mr. Gerard Barton, of Fundenhall, shot four 
in that neighbourhood, where he had not previously 
met with any during several years. Two were killed 
with a right and left shot at Hapton, by Mr. T. H. 
Edwards, and some seven or eight specimens were 
brought in to our birdstuffers. The reputation, how- 
ever, of this bird as a delicacy for the table renders the 
number thus preserved a poor criterion as to the amount 
actually killed. 
I have, on several occasions, been shown the eggs 
of the land-rail taken in Norfolk, but the nests are rarely 
found unless mown out; and on the 9th of June, 1864, 
I saw eight little ones in their long black down, and 
two eggs which had been taken in a grass field on the 
Kimberley estate, near Wymondham. One of the old 
birds was also killed accidentally by the scythe, as not 
unfrequently happens. In 1862 a single bird was killed 
near Norwich, on the 12th of October; and in 1864 
three were killed in one day as late as the 25th, but 
these are exceptional cases, as also a bird of the year, 
shot on the 30th of November, 1855 ; and one recorded 
by Yarrell, as killed near Yarmouth, in January,* 1836. 
It seems marvellous that a bird so reluctant to take 
wing, and when flushed pursuing so slow and lagging 
which weighed eight ounces and a half. Pennant remarks, “on 
their arrival they are very lean, weighing only six ounces, but 
before they leave this island grow so fat as to weigh above eight 
ounces. 
* In the “Field” of June 3rd, 1865, Dr. Bree gives an inter- 
esting account of three land-rails which he kept in confinement, 
one of which lived throughout the winter when turned loose in a 
walled-in garden, showing that this species when properly fed is 
not affected by our frosts and snow, but will thrive if allowed a 
certain amount of freedom. 
