;j38 CORN CRAKE. 



OBSERVATIONS. 



This interesting little Rail, which is a well known European species, occurs in Greenland and may bo 

 at once distinguished from the Sora Rail by the white spottings below. 



CREX PRATENSIS. 

 Corn Crake. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Sp. Ch. Bill similar to that of the Sora Rail, but the wings are longer, folding nearly to the end of the 

 tail, and the legs are shorter. Dark brown above, mottled with yellowish brown. Upper and under wing 

 coverts rusty red, and the quills are reddish brown. Bluish gray below, becoming ashy on tliroat, and the 

 flanks are varied with red^iish brown. There is an ashy line over the eye and a line through it of dark 

 brown. Bill, iris, and feet brown, the latter pale. 



DIMENSIONS. 



Length, 10.00 to 10.50 ; wing, 5.50 to (j.OO ; tail, 2.00 to 2.25 : bill, .SO to 1.00 ; tarsus, 1.50 to 1.80. 



OBSERVATIONS. 



The well known Corn Crake of Eurojie occurs occasionally in Greenland and has been taken in New 

 Jersey and Bermuda. It may be known by the long wings and short legs. 



NESTS AND EGGS. 

 Nests, placed on the ground, composed of grass, etc Eggs, nine or twelve in number, oval in form^ 

 pale buff in color, spotted and blotched with reddish brown and lilac. Dimensions, 1.50 by 1.73 to 1.55 by 

 1.75. 



ORDER XIV. I1ERUDI0NE8. HERONS ETC 



Legs, lung and naked far above the tarsal joint. Posterior toe, jrreseni, icetl-devehp- 

 ed, and always on a level ivith the anterior toes. Keel, not exceeding in lieight the tcidili of 

 the sternum. Marginal indentations, two or four. Terminal expansion, loith or without cen 

 tral projection, and it usualli/ approximates very closely to the tip of keel. 



This Order includes the Ibises, Herons, Spoonbills, etc., all of which are widely dis- 

 tributed, but are generally better represented in the Tropics than elsewhere, while the spe- 

 cies are rare north of the Temperate Zone. Some of the species vary considerably in ex 

 ternal form, as well as in anatomical characters but all these points are given under fau> 

 ily and other headings. 



