CRAKE. GRALLATORES. CREX. 175 



Nostrils concave, lateral, linear-ovoid, pierced in a mem- 

 brane occupying the mandibular furrow in the middle of the 

 bill. 



Wings armed with a spine, and having the second and 

 third quill feathers the longest. 



Plumage soft, thick, and open in texture. 



Legs strong, of mean length, with the lower part of the 

 tibiae naked. Feet four-toed, three before and one behind. 

 Toes long, slender, and cleft to their base, without any lateral 

 membrane, hind toe resting almost wholly on the ground. 

 Claws arcuate, compressed, and sharp-pointed. 



The Crakes hold an intermediate station between the 

 Rails on the one hand, and the Gallinules on the other, from 

 the first of which they are distinguished by a shorter, thicker, 

 and more angular bill, and from the latter in wanting the 

 extension of the lateral membrane that borders the soles of 

 the toes, as well as the naked callous skin (or plate) that oc- 

 cupies the forehead. By LINN^US, they were included in 

 his genus Rallus^ but LATHAM afterwards, under his system, 

 transferred them to the genus Gallimila, in which he has 

 been followed by TEMMINCK, who places them in his first 

 sectional division of that genus. BECHSTEIN, however, and 

 other ornithologists of the present day, have separated them 

 from both genera, constituting a new one for their reception, 

 and to which they are fairly entitled, from the distinctive 

 characters they display. Their habits are similar, in many 

 respects, to the above mentioned birds, being of a shy and 

 solitary disposition, living concealed in the thick herbage of 

 meadows or marshy districts. They have the same thin and 

 compressed shape of body, and they run with a skulking gait, 

 and with great quickness, seldom taking wing unless sud- 

 denly surprised, or when forced to it by persevering pursuit, 

 of course, with the exception of the times of their annual 

 migrations. They feed on worms and insects, as well as ve- 

 getables and seeds. Their flight is awkward and heavy, and 



