84 THE NATURAL HISTORY [1E1T. 



A man brought me a landrail 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. 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 embarrassed 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, that in appearance they might have been dressed like 

 the ropes of a woodcock. The craw or crop was small and lank, 

 containing a mucus; the gizzard thick and strong, and filled 

 with small shell-snails, some whole, and many ground to pieces 

 through the attrition which is occasioned by the muscular force 

 and motion of that intestine. We saw no gravels among the 

 food; perhaps the shell-snails might perform the functions of 

 gravels or pebbles, and might grind one another. Landrails 

 used to abound formerly, I remember, in the low wet bean-fields 

 of Christian Malford in North Wilts, and in the meadows near 

 Paradise Gardens at Oxford, where I have often heard them cry 

 " crex, crex." The bird mentioned above weighed 7 oz., was fat 

 and tender, and in flavour like the flesh of a woodcock. The 

 liver was very large and delicate.] OBSERVATIONS ON NATURE. 



LANDRAIL S lA.i.. 



