Order RALLIF0RME8 
No. 55. 
Family RALLIDJE. 
CREX CREX. 
LAND-KAIL. 
(Plate 50.) 
Rallus orex linne, Syst. Nat., Ed. X., I., p. 153 (1758), Europe. 
Rallus crex Lmne, Syst. Nat., Ed. X., I., p. 153 (1758) ; id., ib., Ed. XII., I., p. 261 (1766) ; 
Thicnemf T>n, Fortpflanz. ges. Vogel, PI. LXXII., figs. 3, a-e (1850). 
Gallinula crex '^ 'unstall, Ornith. Brit., p. 3 (1771) ; Gould, B. Europe, IV., PI. 341 (1837). 
Crex pratensis Bechstein, Orn. Taschenb., II., p. 337 (1803) ; (Jould, B. Gr. Brit., IV., PI. 87 
(1863) ; Gurney, Ibis, p. 331 (1863) ; Dresser, B. Europe, VII., p. 291 (1878) ; 
North, B. County Cumb., p. 108 (1898) ; Bonhote, Zool., p. 29 (1900). 
Octygometra crex Forster, Syn. Cat. Brit. Birds, p. 27 (1817). 
Ortygometra crex id., ib., p. 59. 
Crex herbarum Brehm, Handb. Naturg. Vog. Deutschl., p. 694 (1831).‘ 
Crex alticeps id., ib. 
Rallus featherstonii BuUer, Essay Ornith. New Zealand, p. 18, Note (1865). 
Evldbearnis featherstonii Gray, Handl. B., III., p. 56 (1871), 
Crex crex Sharpe, Ed. Layard’s B. South Africa, p. 611 (1884) ; North, Rec. Austr. Mus., II., 
p. 82 (1893) ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus., XXIII., p. 82 (1894) ; Campbell, Nests and 
Eggs Austr, B., p. 744 (1901) ; Oates, Cat. Birds’ Eggs Brit. Mus., I., p. 115 (1909) ; 
Hall, Key B. Austr., p. 76 (1899) ; Mathews, Handl. B. Austral., p. 12 (1908). 
Distribution. The same as the genus. 
Adult male (in Autumn). Grcneral colour above olive-grey with blackish centres to the 
feathers, including the head, hind-neck, back, scapiilars, long innermost secondaries, 
upper tail-coverts and tail ; lesser median and greater wing-coverts pale chestnut, like 
the bastard- wing ; primary-coverts dark brown edged with rufous ; quills dark brown ; 
the first primary white along the outer edge, the remainder rufous on the outer webs, 
with a blackish spot at the tips, the secondaries for the most part pale rufous ; lores 
and a line over the eye rufescent ; throat and middle of abdomen whitish ; breast sandy- 
rufous, darker on the sides of the body, where it is barred with white ; under tail- 
coverts similar, and tipped with white ; axiUaries and under wing-coverts pale 
chestnut ; edge of wing white. In summer, the sides of the neck and a stripe over the 
eye are blue-grey ; bill, feet and claws a pale brown ; iris hazel. Total length, 
240 mm. — culmen, 22 ; wing, 130 ; tail, 75 ; tarsus, 35, 
Nestling. Covered with sooty-black down, which is darker on the head and throat, with 
lines of rufous feathers and black tips on the back, sides of the body, and the 
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