OF NATURE, 215 



laying and sitting, will get the plumage 

 of the male." May not this hybrid phea- 

 sant (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. MARK WICK. 



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. 



