CH. VI.] LANDKAIL QUAIL. 219 



the Moorhen, cannot reach these shores without 

 crossing, at least, some twenty miles of water. 



I have heard similar strange stories of the dis- 

 appearance of Dabchicks (Podiceps minor) from 

 inland ponds, taking with them their young which 

 had only been hatched a few days. 



The Landrail is tolerably abundant in the 

 Isle of Wight, where I have indeed two or three 

 times heard of their being met with in considerable 

 numbers. A gentleman of my acquaintance as- 

 sures me that in the year 1853 he, with the assist- 

 ance of another gun, killed in one day, near 

 Shanklin, nineteen and a half brace before lun- 

 cheon, and another day twelve brace ; and again, 

 last year, 1858, a relation of my own killed eight 

 and a half brace in one field. These large bags 

 were of course made early in the season, it being 

 a rare circumstance, as elsewhere, for even a soli- 

 tary straggler to be fallen in with after the cold 

 weather has set in. On the 2nd of January, how- 

 ever (I think in 1848), I shot, out of a thick stub- 

 ble, one of these birds in perfect condition and 

 plumage. 



Quails are very scarce with us, and are becom- 

 ing increasingly so. A bevy is occasionally heard 

 of, but that is all. 



