MEADOW OR CORN CRAKE. 333 



ground colour or centre of the feathers is hair- 

 brown, each being very broadly edged with yellow- 

 ish-brown, or a yellow tint of oil-green ; the wing- 

 coverts and axillary feathers orange -brown ; the 

 quills a dull reddish hair-brown, darkest . on the 

 inner webs ; the region of the eyes, auriculars, and 

 sides of the neck, are reddish wood-brown, shaded 

 into the throat and breast, the former of which is 

 white, tinted with grey, the latter yellowish-brown ; 

 the centre of the belly is nearly white, shading gra- 

 dually to the sides and flanks, which are reddish- 

 orange, barred with hair-brown and reddish-white ; 

 bill brown, pink towards the base; legs and feet 

 yellowish -brown. 



The nest is placed on the ground, in a furrow 

 or some slight hollow, and is constructed of grasses ; 

 the eggs often amount to ten or eleven in number ; 

 and, altogether, the nest much more resembles that 

 of the partridge or some of the Tetraonidce than of 

 the Grallatorial birds. The food, during its summer 

 migration, is insects, worms, slugs, &c., and we once 

 took a mouse from the stomach of one killed in the 

 vicinity of Edinburgh. Out of Europe, we have 

 the range of this bird noted to Africa,* and also to 

 Madeira, f 



* Mr. Wilde, quoted by Mr. Yarrell. f Dr. Heineken. 



