84 
THE NATURAL HISTORY 
[LETT. 
A man brought me a landrail or claker-lien, 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 ont 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, that 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. Landrails 
used to abound formerly, I remember, in the low wet bean-fields 
of Christian Malford in N'orth Wilts, and in the meadows near 
Paradise Gardens at Oxford, where I have often heard them cry 
" crex, crex." The bird mentioned above weighed '7 -J oz., was fat 
and tender, and in flavour like the flesh of a woodcock. The 
liver was very large and delicate.] — Observations on ISTature. 
landrail's egg. 
I 
