*The Natural History of Se I borne 423 



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 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 per- 

 form the functions of gravels or pebbles, and might grind one 

 another. Land-rails 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 seven and a half ounces, was fat 

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

 liver was very large and delicate. WHITE. 



Land-rails are more plentiful with us than in the neighbour- 

 hood of Selborne. I have found four brace in an afternoon, 

 and a friend of mine lately shot nine in two adjoining fields ; 

 but I never saw them in any other season than the autumn. 



That it is a bird of passage there can be little doubt, though 

 Mr. White thinks it poorly qualified for migration, on account 

 of the wings being short, and not placed in the exact centre 

 of gravity ; how that may be I cannot say, but I know that its 

 heavy sluggish flight is not owing to its inability to fly faster, 

 for I have seen it fly very swiftly, although in general its actions 

 are sluggish. Its unwillingness to rise proceeds, I imagine, 

 from its sluggish disposition, and its great timidity, for it will 

 sometimes squat so close to the ground as to suffer itself to 



