OBSERVATIONS ON BIRDS. 275 



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 migra- 

 tion ; for its wings are short, and placed so forward, and out of the 

 centre of gravity, that it flies in a very heavy and embarrassed 

 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 wood- 

 cock. 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. WHITE. 



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 unwillingness 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. MARKWIOK. 



have on tlie subject, and we see nothing in the figure, (of -which a reduced 

 woodcut is given,) to warrant any doubt being held, after the distinct and very 

 decided evidence given by Mr. Herbert. 



* 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. 



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