lo BRITISH BIRDS. 
WATER CRAKE. 
SPOTTED RAIL, LESSER SPOTTED WATER RAIL, SKITTY, 
OR SPOTTED GALLINULE. 
(Rallus Por%ana, Lin .— MarouettCi Buff.) 
This bird weighs above four ounces, and mea- 
fures nearly nine inches in length, and about fifteen 
in breadth. The bill is of a greenifh yellow, and not 
more than three quarters of an inch long. The top 
of the head to the nape is dufky, (lightly (Ireaked 
with rufly brown ; a brown and white mottled flripe 
palTes from the bill, over and behind the eyes ; the 
cheeks and throat are of a freckled dull grey. The 
neck and breaft are olive, marked with fmall white 
fpots ; the Tides dufky and olive, croffed with bars of 
white, and the under parts are a mixture of cinereous 
