3 1 4 OBSER VA TIONS ON BIRDS. 



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 remember, 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. W H ITB. 



* The land-rail is common in Shropshire, and I have found three or 

 four nests in a single hayfield. One of these birds was once brought 

 in, in a load of hay, and when discovered feigned to be dead. It was 

 laid aside, and recovered so quickly, that it made good its escape with 

 remarkable speed. 



