386 OBSERVATIONS ON BIRDS. 



however to be observed, that Mr. W. remarks, that its legs and feet 

 were naked, whereas those of the -grouse are feathered to the toes. 



WHITE. 



Mr. Latham observes that " pea-hens, after they have done laying, 

 sometimes assume the plumage of the male bird," and has given a 

 figure of the male-feathered pea-hen now to be seen in the Leverian 

 Museum ; and M. Salerne remarks, that " the hen pheasant, when 

 she has done laying and sitting, will get the plumage of the male." 

 May not this hybrid pheasant (as Mr. White calls it) be a bird of 

 this kind f that is, an old hen pheasant which has just begun to 

 assume the plumage of the cock. MARKWICK. 



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 deemed a bird of 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 embar- 

 rassed 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 perform the functions of gravels or pebbles, and might 

 grind one another. Land-rails used to abound formerly, I remem- 

 ber, 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. 



* The land-rail or corn-crake is a regular migrant, notwithstanding the shortness of 

 its wing. The food is somewhat varied ; We once took a mouse from the stomach of a 

 land-rail. 



