4i8 



BIRDS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



pinkish brown. Length, about eleven inches. The female 

 is a trifle less in size than the male, and the colouration is 

 duller. 



Spottefc Grafee, 



THE Spotted Crake (Crex poranza, Linnaeus) visits the 

 British Isles in the summer, and a few individuals spend 

 the winter with us. It is also found inhabiting temperate 

 Europe and Western Asia. In winter it retires southwards 

 to Africa and India. The adult male has the crown of the 

 head dark brown ; eye-stripe, cheeks, and throat, greyish ; 

 breast, brownish, with white spots ; abdomen, greyish ; 

 flanks, marked with bars of brown and white; upper parts, 

 mostly olive-brown, streaked with darker brown, and spotted 

 minutely with white ; irides, hazel ; bill, yellow; base, 

 orange ; legs and feet, olive. Length, from eight to nine 

 inches. The female is duller in colour, and a little less in 

 size than the male. The young are said to have the throat 

 white and the spots fainter. 



