21. CREX. 



85 



Adult female. Similar to the male, and having tho same grey on 

 the eyebrow, face, and breast. Total lougth 9 inches, culmen 0*9, 

 ■wing 5*3, tail 2, tarsus 1*5, middle toe and cLiw 1-5. 



Adults in ivinter plumar/e. As in summer, but instead of the grey 

 on tho eyebrow, sides of face, and l)reast, these parts are all ochreons 

 brown, and the sides of the body are decidedly more rutcscent, with 

 distinct and broad bars of black on tJie sides of the body and under 

 tail-coYcrts ; the wing-coverts also have distinct whitish bars, 

 particularly ou the greater series, where these bars have blackish or 

 dusky margins. 



The grey shading on the eyebrow and breast is assumed by a 

 change of feathers and not by a moult. 



Young after Jlrxt moult. Similar to the winter plumage of the 

 adults and lacking the grey on the face and breast, and having tho 

 sides of the body nearly uniform tawny, with a few dusky bars and 

 whitish tips to the feathers. 



Nestlinrj. Covered with black down. 



Hah. The greater part of Europe and as far east as the Yenesei 

 in Siberia, Central Asia, and Muscat in Arabia, wintering in Africa. 

 Occasional in N. America and Greenland. 



