68 LAND-RATL. 
clod of earth lying on the ground among the grass. I 
walked to it, and on stooping down, was no less surprised 
than pleased to find the object of my search, apparently 
lifeless. I took it up—the head »nd legs dropped; to all 
appearances the bird was quite dead. Being well acquainted 
with the habits of birds, 1 immediately detected the impo- 
sition; so placing the bird upon the ground, I retired to a 
short distance, under cover of the trunk of a large tree. I 
had not remained long before I saw the cunning bird gently 
move; then suddenly starting to its legs, it ran a short 
distance; then taking wing, soon disappeared over an 
adjoining hedge. This is a striking instance of that deep 
cunning and sagacity which characterizes the habits of some 
birds; as such I have thought it worth recording.’ 
Mr. Jesse has given a similar account in his ‘Gleanings in 
Natural History,’ as follows:—‘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 suddenly saw it open an eye; he then took it 
up—its head fell, its legs hung, 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 upon 
the ground, and retired to some distance, the bird in about 
five minutes warily raised its head, looked round, and 
decamped at full speed.’ 
The late Bishop Stanley, in his ‘Familiar History of Birds,’ 
gives the two following curious accounts of torpidity in this 
species, the latter quoted from the ‘Edinburgh Journal,’ vol. 
vili:—‘We have two instances of dormant Corn-Crakes, which 
are also migratory summer birds. A farmer at Aikerness, in 
Orkney, about mid-winter, in demolishing a mud wall, there 
called a hill-dyke, found a Corn-Crake in the midst of it, a 
bird which is plentiful in summer, but departs, like Swallows, 
at the close of that season. It was apparently lifeless; but 
being fresh to the feel and smell, it began to move, and in 
a few hours was able to walk. about, and lived for two 
days in the kitchen; but, refusing all food, it died. The 
other occurred at Monaghan, in Ireland, where a gentleman, 
having directed his labourers, in winter, to remove a large 
heap of manure, that had remained undisturbed for a great 
length of time, perceived a hole, which was supposed to have 
