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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 these 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 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.

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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. 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 7 oz., 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,

the plumage of the cock, is not confined to the pheasant alone; it takes place also with the pea-hen, as may be seen in the specimen belonging to Lady Tynte, which was in the Leverian Museum. After many broods, this hen took much of the plumage of the cock, and also the fine train belonging to that bird. See also MONTAGU's Ornithological Dictionary, Art. Pheasant. REV. J. MITFORD.

The land-rail or corn-crake is a bird of passage, and a summer visitor to this country. When in the neighbourhood of Swansea some years ago, I was assured by a gentleman residing near that place, that he discovered in a field

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THE CORN-CRAKE, OR LAND-RAIL. (Ortygometra crex.)

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.* MARKWICK,

FOOD FOR 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 delicate plate of greens, culled and provided in this extraordinary manner.

Hence we may see that graminivorous birds, when grain fails, can subsist on the leaves of vegetables. There is reason to suppose that they would not long be healthy without; for turkeys, though corn-fed, delight in a variety of plants, such as cabbage, lettuce, endive, &c.; and poultry pick much grass; while geese live for months together on commons by grazing alone.

"Nought is useless made:

On the barren heath

The shepherd tends his flock, that daily crop
Their verdant dinner from the mossy turf

Sufficient after them, the cackling goose,

Close grazer, finds wherewith to ease her want."

PHILIPS' Cyder.

WHITE.

near the sea a large congregation of these birds. The next day not one was to be found.-ED.

*There is no doubt of its feeding much on grass seeds, which the length

That many graminivorous birds feed also on the herbage, or leaves of plants, there can be no doubt; partridges and larks frequently feed on the green leaves of turnips, which give a peculiar flavour to their flesh, that is to me, very palatable; the flavour also of wild ducks and geese greatly depends on the nature of their food; and their flesh frequently contracts a rank unpleasant taste, from their having lately fed on strong marshy aquatic plants, as I suppose.

That the leaves of vegetables are wholesome, and conducive to the health of birds, seems probable, for many people fat their ducks and turkeys with the leaves of lettuce chopped small. MARKWICK.

HEN-HARRIER.-A neighbouring gentleman sprung a pheasant in a wheat stubble, and shot at it; when, notwithstanding the report of the gun, it was immediately pursued by the blue hawk, known by the name of the hen-harrier, but escaped into some covert. He then sprung a second, and a third, in the same field, that got away in the same manner; the hawk hovering round him all the while that he was beating the field, conscious, no doubt, of the game that lurked in the stubble. Hence we may conclude that this bird of prey was rendered very daring and bold by hunger, and that hawks cannot always seize their game when they please. We may farther observe, that they cannot pounce their quarry on the ground, where it might be able to make a stout resistance, since so large a fowl as a pheasant could not but be visible to the piercing eye of a hawk, when hovering over the field. Hence that propensity of cowering and squatting, till they are almost trod on, which, no doubt, was intended as a mode of security: though long rendered destructive to the whole race of galline by the invention of nets and guns. WHITE.

Of the great boldness and rapacity of birds of prey, when urged on by hunger, I have seen several instances; par

of its legs and neck enable it to reach from the tops of the stalks. When confined, the seeds should therefore be placed above them, and not strewed on the ground. Mr. Herbert says that he does not believe the land-rail will touch a slug, and it may be doubted whether or not they ever take their food from the ground.-Ev.

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