OF THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 73 



eggs are seven or eight in number, yellowish brown in ground 

 colour, marbled and blotched with olive-brown, and occasionally 

 specked with very dark brown. They measure on an average 

 I "2 inch in length by '85 inch in breadth. Only one brood is reared 

 in the year, and incubation is said to last from twenty-one to 

 twenty-four days. At the nest the actions of this bird are 

 very similar to those of allied species. The young chicks, clothed 

 in glossy greenish black down, are able to swim and follow their 

 parents shortly after they are hatched. 



Diagnostic Characters. — Crex, with the white spots on the 

 upper parts confined to the centre of the back, with the flanks 

 slate-gray, the under tail coverts black tipped with white, and no 

 white margin to the outer web of the first primary. Length, 

 8 inches. 



