436* OBSERVATIONS ON 



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 



whether it was Mr. White's identical specimen, though I am quite positive 

 from my notes that it was at the time (now above thirty years ago) stated 

 to me to have been so; and I am persuaded that it was his: but if there 

 was any misunderstanding on that point, and it could have been a second 

 specimen killed in the same line of country, there is not the slightest 

 doubt that it was of like origin and appearance, for I had no exceptions 

 to take to White's description, except that the back was much browner 

 than that of a partridge instead of somewhat like, which is not in fact con- 

 tradictory. The whole of Lord Egremont's collection was afterwards 

 destroyed by maggots, and the specimen has long ceased to exist. 



As I understand it has been surmised that the hybrid bird described by 

 White might have been a young black cock in moult, I wish to state, in 

 the most positive manner, that I am certain it was not. I had, at the 

 period when I examined it, been in the annual habit of shooting young 

 black game, and was perfectly well acquainted with all their variations 

 of plumage ; and had also been accustomed to see them reared in confine- 

 ment. It is a point on which I could not be deceived. The bird had 

 neither the legs and feet, nor the plumage, of a black cock in any stage 

 of its growth. W. H. 



Evidence more direct than that given in the preceding note by the 

 Hon. and Rev. W. Herbert can now, it should seem, scarcely be adduced 

 towards the decision of the somewhat vexata quaestio as to the hybrid 

 pheasant of White. In the destruction of Lord Egremont's collection at 

 Petworth by the moths, the bird described by Mr. Herbert perished with 

 the rest ; and the notes made by him, with the specimen before him, are 

 all that is now accessible regarding it. But these notes furnish an au- 

 thentic record of its existence and appearance at the time of his visit. If 

 there were not a possibility that some misconception might have existed 

 as to the identity of the specimen with the bird seen by White, there could 

 no longer remain the slightest ground for doubt upon the subject. 



But the absolute determination of the nature of the bird in question is 

 of less importance in itself than by the discussions to which it has given 

 rise, and which have led to the ascertaining of various collateral facts of 

 interest, and to rendering them popularly known. Three opinions have 

 been advanced with respect to it, and each has had its advocates. It may 

 be advantageous to refer to them in succession, and to offer a few remarks 

 upon them. 



The first theory propounded on the subject regards the bird as a hybrid 

 between the pheasant and some other species ; a view which is entitled 

 to great respect, independent of all other considerations, on account of 

 its having been entertained by White, whose opportunities for judging 



