When pursued by dogs, these birds persist in keeping upon the ground, and they may sometimes be taken even with the hand. They often stop short and squat, and the dog, overshooting the mark, loses his trace. When driven to the last extremity they rise, but they fly heavily, and generally with their legs hanging down. They do not fly far before they alight: they then run off, and, before the sportsman can reach the place, are at a considerable distance. Sometimes the land-rail will alight upon a hedge, in which case it will perch and sit motionless till the pursuer (who thinks it is upon the ground) almost touches it.
When they first appear these birds are quite lean, but, before their departure, they become so fat that the author of Rural Sports informs us he has frequently been obliged to wrap his handkerchief round them, when killed, to prevent the fat which exuded from the shot-holes from soiling other birds.
The females lay twelve or more eggs of reddish cinereous white colour, marked with rusty and ash-coloured spots and blotches. The nest is loosely formed of moss or dry grass, generally in some hollow place among thick grass.
ORDER VI.—SWIMMERS, OR ANSERES.
181. The WILD SWAN, or HOOPER (Anas cygnus), is distinguished from the tame swan ([182]) by having the cere or naked skin at the base of the bill yellow and not black; and being of smaller size.
These birds are found in the northern parts of Europe, Asia, and America.
On several of the lochs or lakes of Scotland wild swans are very numerous; and they are known, at a great distance, by their cry, which is not much unlike the sound of a clarionet blown by a novice in music.
About the month of August these birds change their feathers, during which, in some countries, they are killed with clubs or hunted by dogs. Their flesh is esteemed a wholesome and palatable food, and the eggs are considered peculiarly delicious. Of the skins, which are used in England, with the down upon them, for muffs, tippets, and powder-puffs, the inhabitants of Iceland and Kamtschatka make garments of different kinds. The North American Indians sometimes weave the down into ornamental dresses; and form the large feathers into caps and plumes to decorate the heads of their warriors.
182. The TAME Swan (Anas olor, Fig. 47), the largest of all British birds, is distinguished from the wild swan ([181]) by its larger size, and by the cere or naked skin at the base of the bill being black and not yellow.
It is an inhabitant both of Europe and Asia.