368 ORALLY. RALLID^E. 



that grow in tide-waters, and at the mouths of 

 rivrrs, and in neighbourhoods luxuriant in aqua- 

 tic herbage. These are the prevailing thickets at 

 Passage Fort: I therefore find every body there 

 familiar with the Mangrove-hen. As these birds 

 have much of the character of the gallinace<z y and 

 are able to run and feed themselves as soon as 

 they are hatched, they are, when half grown, as 

 helpless on the wing as half-fledged poultry. At 

 the pullet age, when feeding out on the mud and 

 shoals, they are run down with great facility. At 

 this time they are delicious eating. Persons, on 

 whose taste I can depend, tell me, that, though a 

 Plover be undoubtedly a fine bird for the table, 

 and the Sanderling a great delicacy, the Man- 

 grove-hen exceeds both ; as it combines all their 

 peculiarity of flavour with the fleshiness of the 

 Quail. This is no small commendation." 



To this interesting note, I have little to add. At 

 Crabpond, where rounded clumps of mangroves 

 are scattered like islets in a lake, we have observed 

 it frequently running quickly and timidly from one 

 cover to another, exposing itself in the open pond 

 as little as possible. As it walks under the arched 

 roots, it holds its short tail nearly erect. 



In a specimen dissected in December, I found 

 fragments of crabs ; and a large one, nearly whole, 

 was in the craw : the stomach is a muscular giz- 

 zard. This individual was excessively fat. 



One brought to me alive in May, taken in a 

 springe, bit fiercely and pertinaciously at anything 



