neck varied with white, brown, and pale red; scapulars narrow, very long, brown, and margined with yellow; the rump of a glossy, blueish, purple; belly and vent, white; the greater quill feathers dusky; tail brown, with tawny edges, and consists of twelve pointed feathers; the legs are of a cinereous green. These birds breed in our marshes, their eggs are of the same colour as the common Snipe, but smaller, corresponding to their bulk, which does not exceed that of a Lark. Fermin, in his account of Surinam, says, they are seen there by thousands on the sea shores ; that it must be a bad marksman, who does not kill sixty at once, with fine shot; and that he killed eighty five at a single discharge; that the flesh is excellent, but the bird so small, that a man may eat twenty at a meal. It is to be apprehended, that Fermin has mistaken the Purre or Ox-bird for the Jack Snipe, as they fly in clouds that would admit such aggregate slaughter as he has described.

The great Snipe is a species not common in England, but is sometimes found in Lancashire, and also in Kent; in 1792 they were in tolerable plenty in the north of England, and there called the solitary Snipe, from always being found alone and detached; some have been since occasionally shot; one in 1798, by a Gentleman of Liverpool, a very fine specimen is preserved in the Leverian Museum, from which the engraving is taken.

This species is of a size between the Woodcock and the Snipe, weighs eight ounces; length, sixteen inches; bill four inches long, and like that of the Woodcock; crown of the head, black, divided down the middle by a pale stripe; over and beneath each eye, another of the same; neck and breast of a yellowish white, finely marked with small semicircular lines of black; belly with cordated spots, and sides undulated with black; the upper parts of the body very like the common Snipe; quills dusky; tail reddish, the two middle feathers plain, the others barred with black; the legs black. According to Mr. LATHAM, the great Snipe is found in Germany, and in Siberia; and he once saw it among a parcel of birds sent from Cayenne, and has no reason to suppose but that it came from thence.

Of all their enemies, perhaps the Snipe species has none more destructive to them than the blue Hawks ; they beat over a marsh or bog with great exactness, until they find the Snipe, who, through fear, crouches as close to the ground as possible, and which they instantly seize; a young Rabbit placed on the bridge of the trap, as before mentioned for the Ring-tail Hawk, and the trap nicely covered with moss, if set in the bog, or with grass if in a marsh, will generally be successful, especially as whichever way they fly in the morning, they are sure to return by the same course in the afternoon, and this regularly for four or five days successively; which will sufficiently intimate where the trap may be placed in his track, so as most probably to engage his attention.

Corn Crake, Land Rail, or Daker Hen.

THIS bird has by some been supposed to be the same as the Water Rail, and its only difference to be a change of colour at a certain period; this error proceeds from inattentively considering the character and nature of each, which are entirely different.

The bill of this species is one inch long, strong and thick, and of a greyish brown, formed exactly like that of the Water Hen, and makes a generical distinction. The eyes hazel, the feathers on the upper parts are of a rufous brown, each dashed down the middle with black; the under parts the same, but paler, and not spotted, and edged with pale rust colour; both wing coverts and quills are of a lightish chesnut; the fore part of the neck and breast is of a pale ash colour; a streak of the same colour extends over each eye, from the bill to the side of the neck; the belly is of a yellowish white; the sides, thighs, and vent, are faintly marked with rusty coloured streaks; the tail is short, and of a deep bay; the legs are the colour of the bill.

It does not, like the Water Rail, affect watery places, but is always found among the corn, grass, broom, and furze. The Land Rail quits this kingdom before winter, and repairs to other countries in search of food, which consists of worms, slugs, insects, and seeds of various kinds, but the Water Rail endures our sharpest seasons.

In meadows, from the time the grass is grown until cut, there issues from the thickest part of the herbage a sound, expressing the word crek, crek, crek, and which is a noise much like that made by stripping forcibly the teeth of a large comb under the fingers; as we approach, the sound retires, and is heard fifty paces off: it is 'the Land Rail that emits this cry, and begins to be heard about the second week in May, at the same time with the Quails, which it seems ever to accompany, and from being less common and larger, has been deemed their leader, and therefore called the King of the Quails. The Land Rail (says Mr. PENNANT) lays from twelve to twenty eggs, of a dull white, marked with a few yellow spots; but, according to LATHAM and BUFFON, the number of eggs does not exceed twelve, which are larger than those of the Quail, and more coloured, are an inch and a half in length, and not unlike those of the Missel Thrush, being of a reddish cinereous white, marked with ferruginous blotches, with a few indistinct ones of a pale reddish ash colour: the nest is negligently constructed with a little moss, or dry grass, and placed usually in some hollow of the turf where the is thickest. The young grass Crakes are covered with a black down, and run as soon as they burst the shell, following their mothers, but quit not the meadow till the scythe sweeps away their habitation; the late hatches are plundered by the mower; all the early broods then shelter themselves amongst buck-wheat,

eats, very frequently in clover-seed, and in waste grounds overspread with broom, where in summer they are often found; a few return again to the meadows at the end of that season.

It is easily known when a dog scents a Land Rail, from his keen search, and the obstinacy with which the bird persists in keeping the ground, insomuch that it may be sometimes caught by the hand it often stops short and squats, the dog pushing eagerly forward, overshoots the spot, and loses the trace, and the Rail, it is said, profits by his blunder, and retraces its path, nor does it spring till driven to the last extremity, when it flies heavily, and generally with its legs hanging down, but never far at a flight; when, as it alights, it runs off, and before the sportsman has reached the place, the bird is at a considerable distance; nor is it sprung a second time but with great difficulty. The fleetness of its feet compensates for the tardiness of its wings all its excursions, windings, and doublings in the fields and meadows, are performed by running. When upon wing, if it flies to a hedge, the sportsman is recommended to look upon the boughs, as it will perch and sit till he almost touches it, and frequently by that means elude all pursuit.

This bird is plentiful in some parts of these realms; in Ireland particularly so, where it is probable they pass the winter. They are in greatest plenty in the Isle of Anglesea, where they appear about the third week in April, supposed to come there from Ireland; at their first arrival it is common to shoot seven or eight in a morning. They abound in the county of Cathness, in Scotland, and are found in most of the Hebrides, and the Orknies. Few places in England are destitute of them in summer, but they are no where what may be called common. It is observed, wherever Quails are in plenty, the Crake abounds; on their first appearance in England, they are so lean, as to weigh less than six ounces, but before their departure, have been known to exceed eight, and are so fat, that the Compiler has been frequently obliged to wrap his handkerchief round them, to prevent the fat, which exuded from the shot holes like oil, from soiling other birds; their flesh is reckoned an exquisite morsel.

BUFFON states, that when the Land Rail returns to other countries, the flight commences during the night, and aided by a favourable wind, it attempts the passage of the Mediterranean, where no doubt many perish, as it is remarked that their numbers decrease upon their return; that migrations of these birds extend more to the north than the south, and notwithstanding the slowness of its flight, it penetrates into Poland, Sweden, Denmark, and even Norway; to the northern countries, he conceives the Land Rail repairs, as much for cool situations, as to obtain its proper food, for altho' it eats the seeds of broom, trefoil, groundsel, and fattens in a cage on millet and grain, and when grown up, every sort of aliment suits it, yet it prefers insects, slugs, worms; and these which are necessary for its young, can be found only in shady, wet grounds, the humidity of those of Ireland, is also congenial to its nature.

In the Island of Cyprus, Land Rails and Partridges sell for two-pence a piece; Snipes rather dearer, being considered a delicacy. All other birds, both Land and Water Fowl, so cheap, that they are rather given away than sold. Becaficos and Ortolans are bought at the rate of a penny a dozen.