SKETCHES OP EUROPEAN ORNITHOLOGTY. 273 



is a much rarer bird than either of the other two European Red- 

 foots; inhabits the Archipelago, Turkey, Italy, Switzerland, and 

 the Tyrol ; and is principally distinguished by the white colour of 

 the cheeks and neck, bounded by a black band which, passing oil 

 each side, from the beak across the eye, meets upon the chest. i?w* 

 fipes albicollis would, consequently, form its appropriate designation. 

 The male Greek Partridge measures, in extreme length, from thir- 

 teen to fifteen inches ; the Barbary — , from twelve to thirteen. Ac- 

 cording to the admirable description of Temminck, — Manuel d'Or- 

 nithologie, v. ii, p. 484 — 486, — both species occasionally exhibit 

 considerable varieties of plumage. 



The female of both may be readily recognized by inferiority of 

 size ; less vivid colouring of the plumage ; and by the absence of the 

 short blunt spur with which the tarsus of the male is invariably 

 furnished. The Barbary, or Collared, lays fifteen eggs, of a dull- 

 yellow, covered with minute specks of a greenish-yellow or olive 

 colour : the Greek, or White-throated, from fifteen to twenty, yel- 

 lowish-white, with indistinct markings of reddish-yellow. The fi- 

 gures in this plate are drawn with great fidelity and spirit ; but the 

 colouring of the feathers, on the sides and flanks, is rather hard. 



I*LATE XI. — The Land Rail, or Corn Crake, — Gallinula crex, 

 Ttallus creoCj Linnaeus, — Ortygometra crex, Fleming, — Crex pra~ 

 tensis, Bechstein, — Rale, ou Poule, d'Eau de Genet, Fr., — Wiesen- 

 knarrer, G. This migratory bird, whose harsh and monotonous cry 

 becomes delightful from its associations, in the memory, with the 

 balmy and incense-breathing nights of summer, i«, by modern orni. 

 thologists, separated from Gallinula ; with which we are surprized 

 to find it still associated by Mr. Gould. The genus Crex, of which 

 it is now taken to constitute the type, contains two other British 

 species, C. porzana and olivaria : the little Crake, C. pusilla, of 

 Selby, having been transferred, by Dr. Leach, to the new genus, 

 Zapornia. For a description of the generic characters of Crex, see 

 Selby's Illustrations , v. ii., page 174. The Crakes, according to 

 this excellent writer, form a connecting link between^ the Bails and 

 Gallinules : distinguished, from the former, " by a shorter, thicker, 

 and more angular bill ;" from the latter, by the defect of extension 

 of the lateral membrane bordering the inferior surface of the toes, 



January, 1836. — vol. hi., no. xiv. t 



