GALLINULIN^E. CREX. GALLINULA. 115 



cheeks, fore-neck and breast brownish- white, with faint trans- 

 verse brown bars. 



Male, 7, . ., 3&, ft> JiV, 1 A, iV 



This species, which is said to be common in the southern 

 and eastern parts of Europe, ranks with us as a very rare and 

 accidental visitant. In January 1823 an individual was 

 caught in Cambridgeshire, and is preserved in Dr Thackeray's 

 collection. 



Gallinula Baillonii, Temm. Man. d'Ornith. ii. 692. Bail- 

 Ion's Crake, Crex Baillonii, Jard. and Selby's Illustr. pi. 15. 

 Crex Baillonii, Baillon's Crake, MacGiliivray, Brit. Birds, 



213. CREX PUSILLA. LITTLE CRAKE. 



Length seven inches and three-fourths ; bill along the 

 ridge eight-twelfths and a half, more slender than in the last 

 species, yellowish-green ; feet light green ; upper parts olive- 

 brown, spotted with dusky, and having on the back a few 

 white streaks ; a band over the eye, cheeks, and lower parts 

 in general bluish-grey ; the sides faintly barred with white 

 and brown, lower tail-coverts black, barred with white. The 

 female differs in having the throat whitish, the grey tint of 

 the lower parts paler and tinged with red ; the upper parts 

 reddish-brown. The young still paler beneath, being brown- 

 ish-white on the cheeks and neck, the sides brown, with faint 

 whitish bars. 



Male, 7|, - ., 3jf, &, 1 T 2 ,, 1 T \, T \. 



Of very rare and accidental occurrence /in England, in 

 several parts of which it has however been obtained. In its 

 habits it resembles the two preceding species, and is said to 

 be plentiful in the eastern parts of Europe. 



Kallus pusillus, Lath. Ind. Ornith. ii. 761. Gallinula 

 pusilla, Temm. Man. d* Ornith. ii. 690. Crex pusilla, Little 

 Crake, MacGiliivray, Brit. Birds. 



GENUS CXI. GALLINULA. WATER-HEN. 



The Water-Hens differ in no very essential respects from 

 the Gallmules, their principal distinction being their having 

 a kind of callosity or plate on the forehead at the base of 

 the ridge of the upper mandible, and their toes flat beneath 

 and laterally margined. They are birds of moderate or 

 small size, having the body large, but much compressed ; 



