66 THE GAME BIEDS AND WILD FOWL 



Family RALLID^E.— The Rails. 



The birds comprising this, by far the largest division of the order, may be 

 distinguished, in addition to the characters already given, by their having an after- 

 shaft to the body feathers and twelve rectrices. The present family is divisible 

 into tv70 fairly well-defined subfamilies, both of which are represented in our area. 



Subfamily RALLIN/E.— The Plain=toed Rails. 



The Plain-toed Rails may be distinguished from other members of the present 

 family by the absence of lobe-like processes from the toes. It includes by far 

 the greater number of species, and has been subdivided by a recent monographer 

 into what we consider to be an unwarrantable number of genera. 



Genus CREX, or Crakes. 



Type, CREX PRATBNSIS. 



Crex, of Bechstein (1803). — The birds comprising the present genus are 

 characterised by their short, thick bill, shorter than the head, and by having the 

 forehead covered with feathers to the base of the culmen. The wings are 

 moderately long but rather rounded ; the tail is short. The metatarsus is compara- 

 tively short, the lower part of the tibia devoid of feathers. The bill is short and 

 compressed ; nostrils linear and oblong. Three toes in front, one behind, the 

 former long and slender ; claws curved and sharp. 



This genus is composed of about twenty species, which are confined to the 

 Eastern hemisphere, being inhabitants of all the great zoological regions with 

 the exception of Arctic latitudes. Four species are either resident in or visitors 

 to the British Islands. 



The Crakes are dwellers amongst the dense and humid vegetation of swamps 

 and marshes, but some species are more terrestrial than others. They are birds 

 of somewhat slow and laboured flight, and on the ground progress by running 

 and walking. Their notes are shrill and harsh. They subsist chiefly on insects, 

 seeds, and tender shoots. Their nests are large, and made of aquatic vegetation, 

 and their eggs are numerous and double-spotted. They are monogamous. The 

 flesh of some species is highly esteemed. 



