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 n 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 SPOTTED 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 RAIL (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. 



