The Rails. 
229 
The Water- Rail is found in marshy localities throughout the whole of Great 
Britain, but is somewhat rarer in Scotland. It is also an inhabitant of the rest of 
Europe, excepting the more northern portions, and extends to Central Asia. It 
is a shy bird, and takes to flight unwillingly, preferring to escape by running, 
which it does most deftly, threading its way like a rat through the mazes of the 
reed-bed. The nest is rather neatly made of sedge and leaves of reeds, and lined 
with slender reeds : it is built in a clump of rushes about a foot above the ground, 
and the eggs vary from five to eleven in number. They are of a creamy stone- 
colour, with rufous spots and grey underlying ones, and measure about an inch-and- 
a-half in length. 
This is one of the 
short-billed Rails, and 
LAND-RAIL. „ , 
. is generally known as 
(C rex crcx.) 
the ‘ Corn-Crake.’ It is 
distinguished from the Water-Rail by its 
shorter bill and by the colour of the 
plumage, which is brown, streaked with 
black, while the wing-coverts and primary 
quills are bright chestnut : the ear-coverts, 
lower throat and chest are ashy-grey. 
The Land-Rail is found throughout 
Great Britain in summer, and extends its 
range over the greater part of Europe to 
Central Asia and Siberia as far as the The Land-Rail. 
valley of the Lena. It occasionally 
straggles to Greenland and the Eastern States of North America, and visits South 
Africa in winter. Its nest is placed on the ground in hay-fields and corn-lands, 
and the eggs are from seven to ten in number, of a buffish clay-colour, with rufous 
and grey spots : they measure about an inch-and-a-half in length. 
The sexes in this species are different in colour, and the 
THE* 
middle toe is longer than in the Land-Rail, the wing is more 
LITTLE CRAKE. . , , , . , 
. , pointed, and the secondaries are much shorter than the 
(Zaporma pavva.) 
primaries. The male is ochreous brown, with black streaks 
on the upper surface, and the lower parts of the body are ashy grey, with a few 
white bars on the flanks, while the under tail-coverts are white, tinged with ochre 
and barred with black. The female is browner, with the chest and throat white, 
and the rest of the under surface pale vinaceous isabelline. The length of the 
species is seven inches, and the wing four inches. 
The Little Crake is only an occasional visitor to Great Britain in spring and 
autumn. It is an inhabitant of Central Europe, and is found in Russia and 
Central Asia. It winters in Equatorial Africa and North-western India. The habits 
