to LAND-RAIL.
better case. Forty were onee seen by a farmer, in the parish of Modbury,
Devonshire, in the month of October, collected together previous to
Leaving; he shot seventeen, but the next day the others had all disappeared.
Individuals have been occasionally taken on ships at sea.
The Land-Bail has a great aversion to being put up, and, being
of ¿1 shy and timorous nature, skulks and runs about most pertinaciously
in its covert, doubling backwards and forwards both
rapidly and cleverly, rather than do so. If alarmed unawares into
flight, it will suddenly drop, after flying a few yards, and take to
its legs for security; it is in consequence very rarely seen, in proportion
to the comparative abundance in which it unquestionably
exi-ts. I remember last year dislodging one close to me, which, though
apparently it must have lurked almost under my feet, I could not
discover: it is still more difficult to make it rise a second time. If
closely followed it will at times take refuge in trees, running without
difficulty among the branches, and hiding among the leaves.
The following well-told relation of the fact it records I give as
communicated to me by William Robert Shepherd, Esq., of the Dana,
Shrewsbury:—'Rather a singular circumstance occurred to me the
other day. Whilst out with my gun on the 13th. instant, at Ludlow,
in this county, in going over a grass field, my dog in advance
flushed a Corn-Crake, which fled steadily for a short distance, and
t h r u dropped among the grass. Being desirous of watching its movements,
1 hurried towards the spot where it had alighted, when 1
saw it stealing through the grass with the stealthiness and rapidity
of a mouse, ever and anon raising its head to see the extent of
the danger. 1 wras thus watching it, when suddenly it stopped and
crouched close to the ground. Motioning the dog to stay behind, I
crept cautiously to the spot, and as I drew near to it, was surprised
to sec no attempt at escape.
Having reached the place, 1 carefully examined the ground for some
distance round, but could find nothing. I was just on the point of
giving up t h e search, thinking that the bird had stolen off without my
notice, when mv attention was attracted by what appeared to me to be
a clod of earth lying on the ground among the grass. I walked to it,
and on stooping down, was no less surprised than pleased to find the
objeel of m\ search, apparently lifeless. I took it up—the head and
l e g s dropped; to all appearances the bird was quite dead. Being well
acquainted with the h a b i t s of birds, I immediately detected the
imposition; so placing the bird upon the ground, I retired to a short
distance, under cover of the trunk of a large tree. I had not
remained long before I saw the cunning bird gently move; then
L A N D - R A I L . 11
suddenly starting to its legs, it ran a short, distance; then taking wing,
soon disappeared over an adjoining hedge. This is a striking instance
of that deep cunning and sagacity which characterize the habits of
some birds; as such I have thought it worth recording.'
Mr. Jesse has given a similar account in his 'Gleanings in Natural
History,' as follows:—'A gentleman had a Corn-Crake brought to him
by his dog, to all appearance quite dead. As it lay on the ground, he
turned it over with his foot, and was convinced that it was dead.
Standing by, however, in silence, he suddenly saw it opcu an eye; he
thcu took it up—its head fell, its legs hung, and it appeared again
quite dead. He then put it in his pocket, and before long he felt it
all alive, and struggling to escape. He then took it out; it was as
lifeless as before. Having laid it again upon the ground, and retired
to some distance, the bird in about five minutes warily raised its head,
looked round, and decamped at full speed."
The late Bishop Stanley, in his 'Familiar History of Birds,' gives
the two following curious accounts of torpidity in this species, the latter
quoted from the ' E d i n b u r g h Journal,* volume v i i i : — ' W e have two
instances of dormant Corn-Crakes, which arc also migratory summer
b i r d s . A farmer at Aikerness, in Orkney, about mid-winter, in
demolishing a mud wall, there called a hill-dyke, found a Corn-Crake
in the midst of it, a bird which is plentiful in summer, but departs,
like Swallows, at the close of that season. It was apparently lifeless,
but being fresh to the feel and smell, it began to move, and in a few
hours was able to walk about, and lived for two days in the kitchen;
but, refusing all food, it died. The other occurred at Mouaghan, in
Ireland, where a gentleman, having directed his labourers, in winter,
to remove a large heap of manure that had remained undisturbed for
a great length of time, perceived a hole, which was supposed to have
been made by r a t s ; it penetrated to a great depth, but at its termination,
instead of rats, three Corn-Crakes were discovered, as if placed there
with the greatest care, not a feather being out of its place, and apparently
lileless. The birds, on examination, Merc however, considered to be
in a torpid state, and were placed near a fire in a warm room. In the
course of a short time, a tremulous motion w a s observed in one of their
legs, and soon after, a similar motion was noticed in the legs and wings
of the whole, which at length extended itself to their whole bodies,
and finally the birds were enabled to run and fly about the room.'
These statements are fully corroborated by Dr. "W. B. Baikie and Mr.
Hcddle, who, in their ' N a t u r a l History of Orkney,' mention that
several have been seen there in winter; that one was observed at
Lopness, in December, 1812, another in Ronsay, in February, 1847;