BIRDS. 329 



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 occa- 

 sioned by the muscular force and motion of that intestine. 

 We saw no gravel 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 ounces and a 

 half, was fat and tender, and in flavour like the flesh of 

 a woodcock. The liver was very large and delicate. 1 



FOOD OF THE RING-DOVE. 



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 stuffed 

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

 washed and boiled, and so sat down to a choice and deli- 



1 Land-rails are more plentiful with us [at Catsfield, near Battle. 

 ED.] 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 [a lapsus calami ED.] which abound in such places, than for the 

 grain or seeds ; and that it is entirely an insectivorous bird. MARKWICK. 



