OF NATURE. 431 



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

 have imagined this bird to have been a stray grous or black- 

 cock ; it is however to be observed, that Mr. W. remarks, that 

 its legs and feet were naked, whereas those of the grous 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 pheasant 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. 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 



* [There can now be no doubt that this bird was a hybrid between the 

 black-cock and the pheasant. The coloured engraving in some of the 

 early editions gives a very erroneous idea of the bird, and is a wretched 

 copy from Elmer's clever painting, mentioned by Gilbert White, which 

 was given to him by Lord Stawell, and has been for many years in my 

 possession. T. B.] 



