LANDRAIL. 



109 



ground, consequently very easy to kill, yet if it is only 

 ■winged, a dog is required to find it, and it is impossible 

 to follow it without, unless the pursuer watch the tops of 

 the grasses moving as the bird runs. 



The food of the Landrail is worms, snails, and insects, 

 as well as herbage and grass seeds, on which it gets generally 

 so very fat, that when dressed for the table it is quite a 

 rich and. savoury morsel. The best way to roast this game 

 is by rolling it up in a lettuce leaf in order that it may 

 not be too much dried up. 



Where the grass is left for a longer period on the ground 

 than is usually done, the birds have two broods in the 

 summer ; this may not generally be allowed to be so, but 

 we speak from experience, having on the same day killed 

 birds nearly full grown, and old ones full of eggs, in places 

 where they have not been disturbed. 



The nest is placed, on the ground, among the grass and 

 consists of a fabric of dry leaves and. stalks of the locality. 

 The eggs are generally from eight to ten in number. The 

 young, which are covered with dull black down, run about 

 immediately and are very difficult to find : they make 

 their appearance between the beginning and middle of June, 

 and some a fortnight later. After the young are hatched, 

 the male recommences its call-note and often thus betrays 

 the precise spot where the family reside. 



The lowest, rankest, and thickest herbage is generally 

 its situation, and on the approach of an enemy they run 

 invariably to some dry overgrown ditch for shelter. While 

 going in pursuit of these birds, we have found among other 

 tricks which the Landrail practises to avoid being put up or 

 flushed, that it climbs. trees of low growth and runs along 

 their branches with the greatest ease, and hides among the 

 foliage, although this is its last retreat, from whence it 



