110 



Landrail is about six ounces ; but I have seen one instance, 

 and heard of another, in which this bird weighed eight 

 ounces and a half. Pennant mentions one that weighed 

 eight ounces. 



Mr. Jesse, in his remarks on this bird, says, " I have 

 met with an incident in 4he Natural History of the Corn 

 Crake which I believe is perfectly accurate, having been 

 informed that the bird will put on the semblance of death 

 when exposed to danger from which it is unable to escape. 

 The incident was this : A gentleman had a Corn Crake 

 brought to him by his dog, to all appearance quite dead. 

 As it lay on the ground, he turned it over with his foot, 

 and felt convinced that it was dead. Standing by, how- 

 ever, in silence, he suddenly saw it open an eye. He then 

 took it up ; its head fell ; its legs hung loose, and it 

 appeared again quite dead. He then put it in his pocket, 

 and before long he felt it all alive, and struggling to 

 escape. He then took it out ; it was as lifeless as before. 

 Having laid it again upon the ground and retired to some 

 distance, the bird in about five minutes warily raised its 

 head, looked round, and decamped at full speed." They 

 congregate before they take their departure from this 

 country, as the Rev. Robert Holdsworth wrote me word 

 that he had been at the killing of thirteen couple in one 

 day, in Devonshire, in the month of September ; and they 

 are so abundant in the Vale of Purbeck from the middle 

 of September to the middle of October, when they leave, 

 that J. Serrel, Esq., of Durnford House, killed forty-five 

 couple in each of two seasons in succession. 



Some years since, two sportsmen, while Partridge-shoot- 

 ing during the third week of September, in the neighbour- 

 hood of Battle, only a few miles from the coast in Sussex, 

 killed fifteen couple of Landrails in one day, and seven 

 couple the next day. 



