LAND-RAIL 



CORN-CRAKE DAKER HEN MEADOW-CRAKE. 



PLATE CLXXIX. FIGURE I. 



Crex pratensis, BECHSTEIN. 



Rallus crex, LINN/EUS. 



Ortygometra crex, .... FLEMING. GRAY. 



THE nest of the Corn-Crake is placed among long grass 

 or corn, in a furrow or some slight hollow, and is lined 

 with a few of the leaves and stalks of the neighbouring 

 herbage. 



The eggs, commonly seven to ten, or even twelve in 

 number, are of a pale reddish-brown, reddish, or yellowish- 

 white colour, spotted and speckled with gray and reddish 

 brown. Usually they do not vary much, except in the size 

 and greater or less number of the spots. Some, however, 

 are of a red-tinted ground colour, with blots of deep red 

 brown and purple. One brood is reared in the year, but 

 when the nest and eggs are destroyed during the hay-making 

 season, which is not unfrequently the case, the Land- Rail 

 will then lay again, rearing a second brood even as late as 

 September. 



The young quit the nest soon after they are hatched, 

 and in rather less than six weeks are able to fly. 



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