240 GRALL.E. 



not very well known. It hides itself during the day in 

 the sedge, reeds, and rushes, among which it is said to build 

 a nest of withered plants, and to lay six or seven white eggs, 

 spotted with dark red. 



It is a smaller and more elegantly shaped bird than the 

 corn-crake. It is not a great deal shorter, but considerably 

 more slender, and not exceeding two-thirds of the weight. 

 Its colours are, on the upper part, greenish olive brown, with 

 spots and lines of black and white very pleasingly distri- 

 buted ; on the under part, pale ash colour, marked with 

 white. Feet and bill greenish yellow, the latter with a tinge 

 of red on the basal part. In the autumn, before it takes its 

 final departure for the year, it is in fine condition, and 

 highly prized for the table. 



BAILLON'S CRAKE (Crex Baillonii). 



This species is so rare, and the discovery of it as a British 

 bird is comparatively so recent, that in the present state of 

 our knowledge of it, it cannot be considered in any other 

 light than as a straggler. It is said not to be uncommon in 

 some parts of France and Italy, where it dwells in retire- 

 ment, almost indeed in concealment, among tall herbage on 

 the banks of streams, and does not appear to be much of a 

 migrant, or even of a ranger in the places which it does 

 inhabit. The shortness of its wings does not indicate a bird 

 much given to long flights. In the specimen which was ob- 

 tained from Norfolk, in 1812, the stretch of the wings was 

 only eighteen inches and a half, while the length of the bird 

 was seven inches and a half. Its colours are much more 

 entire and free from mottling than those of the last species : 

 top of the head olive brown, nape lighter and yellowish. 

 The rest of the upper part and wings black or dusky, with 

 olive brown margins to the feathers ; rump and upper tail- 

 coverts mottled olive brown and dusky ; tail olive brown, 



