LANDRAIL. y 



seen one instance, and heard of another, in which this bird 

 weighed eight ounces and a half. Pennant mentions one 

 that weighed eight ounces. 



Mr. Jesse, in his remarks on this bird, says, " I have met 

 with an incident in the Natural History of the Corn Crake 

 which I believe is perfectly accurate, having been informed 

 that the bird will put on the semblance of death when ex- 

 posed to danger from which it is unable to escape. The in- 

 cident w^as this : — A gentleman had a Corn Crake brought to 

 him by his dog, to all appearance quite dead. As it lay on 

 the ground, he turned it over with his foot, and was convinced 

 that it was dead. Standing by, however, in silence, he sud- 

 denly saw it open an eye. He then took it up ; its head 

 fell ; its legs hung loose, and it appeared again quite dead. 

 He then put it in his pocket, and before long he felt it all 

 alive, and struggling to escape. He then took it out ; it was 

 as lifeless as before. Having laid it again upo'n the ground 

 and retired to some distance, the bird in about five minutes 

 warily raised its head, looked round, and decamped at full 

 speed. I have seen a similar circumstance take place with 

 a Partridge, and it is well-known that many insects will prac- 

 tise the same deception. I have also observed it in that 

 curious marine animal, the sea-mouse, Aphrodita aculeata. 

 They probably congregate before they migrate, as I am as- 

 sured that a considerable number were, on one occasion, seen 

 together near the sea-shore in the neighbourhood of Swansea, 

 about the time they usually take their departure from this 

 country." 



The Rev. Robert Holdsworth wrote me word that he has 

 been at the killing of thirteen couple in one day, in Devon- 

 shire, in the month of September. 



Some years since, two sportsmen while partridge-shooting 

 during the third week of September, in the neighbourhood of 

 Battle, only a few miles from the coast in Sussex, killed 



