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THE MEADOW OR CORN CRAKE. 
Crex pratensis , Bechstein. 
PLATE XXIX. 
Rallus crex, Linn . — Gallinula crex, Lath . — Ortygometra 
crex, — Crex pratensis, Bechst ., <J-c Poule d’eau 
de genet, Temm CornCrake or Land Rail of British 
authors. 
Thk Com Crake is generally distributed over the 
British Islands, extending northwards to Orkney 
and Shetland ; at the same time, it affects peculiar 
localities, and there are many districts where it is 
scarcely ever heard. Low lying and sheltered vales, 
along a river’s course, are its favourite haunts, and 
there it will be found in meadows, young grass or 
grain, osier beds, &c., preferring places in which 
there is a certain degree of moisture. It is migra- 
tory, being a summer visitant only, appearing at an 
earlier or later period in the spring according to its 
range northward or southward. In some parts it 
has decreased, and without apparent cause ; in the 
vale of the Annan, in the south of Scotland, ten 
years since, the bird was extremely common, its 
note being heard in almost every alternate field ; at 
