THE CORN CRAKE 
the coverts and darkest on the quills ; there is a slate-grey 
stripe over the eye, and grey is the colour of the cheeks, 
throat, and breast, shading into nearly white on the 
abdomen and under tail-coverts and into dull chestnut on 
the flanks, which are marked with white. Bill pale 
brown; tarsi and toes pale brown; _ irides brown. 
Length nearly 11 inches. After the autumn moult the 
grey on the under parts is pale reddish brown, but the 
grey eye-stripe is retained, which is the case in young 
in first plumage, but with them the eye-stripe is buff. 
The young in down are uniform rich black 
Two other Rails require passing notice here. ‘The 
first of these is the Sporrep Crake (Crex porzana), a 
summer visitor to our islands, which occasionally wanders 
to Greater London in the course of its annual migrations. 
The bird may possibly breed in Bucks and Berks, is rare on 
passage in Surrey, an occasional visitor to Middlesex, and 
is sometimes met with at Epping and in the Hackney 
Marshes. ‘The second species is the Water Ratt (Rallus 
aquaticus), a resident in the British Islands, but subject 
to a good deal of local movement, according to season. 
It is said to be a scarce resident at Virginia Water, and 
the same remarks apply to the Thames Valley, the Colne, 
the Chess and the Kennet. In Middlesex it is both rare 
and local, chiefly being met with in winter, as it also 
is in Essex at Epping. 
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