68 LAND-RAIL. 



clod of earth lying on the ground among the grass. I 

 walked to it, and on stooping down, was no less surprised 

 than pleased to find the object of my search, apparently 

 lifeless. I took it up the head and legs dropped; to all 

 appearances the bird was quite dead. Being well acquainted 

 with the habits of birds, I immediately detected the impo- 

 sition; so placing the bird upon the ground, I retired to a 

 short distance, under cover of the trunk of a large tree. I 

 had not remained long before I saw the cunning bird gently 

 move; then suddenly starting to its legs, it ran a short 

 distance; then taking wing, soon disappeared over an 

 adjoining hedge. This is a striking instance of that deep 

 cunning and sagacity which characterizes the habits of some 

 birds; as such I have thought it worth recording.' 



Mr. Jesse has given a similar account in his 'Gleanings in 

 Natural History,' as follows: '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 was convinced that it was dead. Standing by, however, 

 in silence, he suddenly saw it open an eye; he then took it 

 up its head fell, its legs hung, 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.' 



The late Bishop Stanley, in his 'Familiar History of Birds,' 

 gives the two following curious accounts of torpidity in this 

 species, the latter quoted from the 'Edinburgh Journal,' vol. 

 viii: 'We have two instances of dormant Corn-Crakesj which 

 are also migratory summer birds. A farmer at Aikerness, in 

 Orkney, about mid-winter, in demolishing a mud wall, there 

 called a hill-dyke, found a Corn-Crake in the midst of it, a 

 bird which is plentiful in summer, but departs, like Swallows, 

 at the close of that season. It was apparently lifeless; but 

 being fresh to the feel and smell, it began to move, and in 

 a few hours was able to walk about, and lived for two 

 days in the kitchen; but, refusing all food, it died. The 

 other occurred at Monaghan, in Ireland, where a gentleman, 

 having directed his labourers, in winter, to remove a large 

 heap of manure, that had remained undisturbed for a great 

 length of time, perceived a hole, which was supposed to have 



