FEK-BIRD SHOOTING. 113' 



These birds make their appearance about the same time as the 

 quail, and frequent the same localities, and hence, in some 

 countries, the landrail is called the king of the quails. Its cry is 

 well known, and when once heard cannot be easily forgotten. It 

 shelters among the long grass, and is rarely seen, for it invariably 

 skulks among the thickest parts of the herbage, and runs so 

 quickly through it, that it is, m nine cases out of ten, impossible to 

 overtake it. Wlien hard pressed by a dog, it will sometimes stop 

 sliort and squat do^vn, by which device the dog overshoots the spot,, 

 and loses the trace of it. It seldom springs but when driven to 

 extremity, and generally flies with its legs hanging down, but- 

 nevei- to any great distance. When it ahghts, it sets off running 

 with surprising speed, and before the fowler reaches the spot, is far 

 out of his reach. 



The nest of _ the landrail is made of dry grass, and a few soft 

 leaves, and a little moss mixed up with the whole. It is commonly 

 embedded in some hollow part of the sm-face of the field, but occa- 

 sionally it is met with on high and even ground. The female lays 

 ten or twelve eggs of a dull white colour, and the young, as soon 

 as they escape from the shell, run mth surprising swiftness. 



This bnd leaves the island before the winter, and repans to other 

 comitries in search of its food, which consists chiefly of slugs, of 

 which it destroys a prodigious quantity. It likewise devoui-s 

 worms and insects, as well as seeds of various kinds. On its first 

 arrival in England, it is so lean as to weigh less than six ounces, 

 from which one would conclude that it must have come from very 

 distant parts ; before its departure, however, it has been known to 

 exceed nine ounces. Its flesh is considered a great delicacy. 



Mr. White says—" A man brought me a landrail, or daier-hen, 

 a bird so rare m this district that we seldom see more than one or 

 two in a season, and those only in autumn. Tliis is deemed a bird 

 of passage by all tlie \vriters, yet, from its formation, seems to be 

 poorly qualified for migration ; for its wings_ are shorty 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 sprmig a second time, as it runs very fast, and 

 seems to depend more on the swiftness of its leet 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 muscidar force and motion 

 of the intestine. We saw no gravel among the food." 



That the bnd is a migratory one there can be little doubt, though 

 from its conformation it seems ill adapted for any long and exten- 

 sive flights. Its wings are short, and they are not placed in the 

 centre of gravity. Its unwillingness to rise upon the wing arises 

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



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