OB SEE VA TIONS ON BIRDS. 315 



Land-rails are more plentiful with us than in the 

 neighbourhood of Selborne. I have found four brace in an 

 afternoon, and a friend of mine lately shot nine in two 

 adjoining fields ; but I never saw them in any other season 

 than the autumn. 



That it is. a bird of passage there can be little doubt, 

 though Mr. White thinks it poorly qualified for migration, 

 on account of the wings being short, and not placed in the 

 exact centre of gravity. How that may be I cannot say, but 

 I know that its heavy, sluggish flight is not owing to its 

 inability of flying faster, for I have seen it fly very swiftly, 

 although in general its actions are sluggish. Its unwilling, 

 ness to rise proceeds, I imagine, from its sluggish disposition, 

 and its great timidity, for it will sometimes squat so close 

 to the ground as to suffer itself to be taken up by the hand, 

 rather than rise ; and yet it will at times run very fast. 



What Mr. White remarks respecting the small shell- 

 snails found in its gizzard, confirms my opinion, that it 

 frequents corn-fields, seed clover, and brakes or fern, more 

 for the sake of snails, slugs, and other insects which 

 abound in such places, than for the grain or seeds ; and 

 that it is entirely an insectivorous bird. — Markwick. 



FOOD OF THE RING-DOYE. 



One of my neighbours shot a ring-dove on an evening as 

 it was returning from feed, and going to roost. When his 

 wife had picked and drawn it, she found its craw stufifed 

 with the most nice and tender tops of turnips. These she 

 washed and boiled, and so sat down to a choice and delicate 

 plate of greens, culled and provided in this extraordinary 

 manner. 



Hence we may see that graminivorous birds, when 



