390 OBSERVATIONS ON BIRDS. 



Mr. Elmer, of Farnham, the famous game painter, was em- 

 ployed to take an exact copy of this curious bird. 



N.B. It ought to be mentioned, that some good judges have 

 imagined this bird to have been a stray grouse or blackcock*; it is 

 however to be observed, that Mr. W. remarks, that its legs and 

 feet were naked, whereas those of the grouse are feathered to the 

 toes. WHITE. 



Mr. Latham observes that "pea-hens, after they have done 

 laying, sometimes assume the plumage of the male bird," and has 

 given a figure of the male- feathered pea-hen now to be seen in 

 the Leverian Museum ; and M. Salerne remarks, that " the hen 

 pheasant, when she has done laying and sitting, will get the 

 plumage of the male." May not this hybrid pheasant (as Mr. 

 White calls it) be a bird of this kind ? that is, an old hen phea- 

 sant which had just begun to assume the plumage of the cock. 

 MARKWICK. 



LAND-RAIL. 



A man brought me a land-rail or daker-hen, a bird so rare in 

 this district, that we seldom see more than one or two in a season, 

 and those only in autumn. 2 This is deemed a bird of passage by 

 all the writers ; yet from its formation, seems to be poorly qualified 

 for migration ; for its wings are short, and placed so forward, and 

 out of the centre of gravity, that it flies in a very heavy and em- 

 barrassed manner, with its legs hanging down ; and can hardly be 

 sprung a second time, as it runs very fast, and seems to depend 

 more on the swiftness of its feet than on its flying. 



When we came to draw it, we found the entrails so soft and 

 tender in appearance, they might have been dressed like the ropes 

 of a wood-cock. The craw or crop was small and lank, containing 

 a mucus ; the gizzard thick and strong, and filled with small shell 



2 The land -rail is common in Shropshire, and I have found three or four 

 nests in a single hayfield. One of these birds was once brought in, in a load 

 of hay, and when discovered feigned to be dead. It was laid aside, and re- 

 covered so quickly, that it made good its escape with remarkable speed 



