CRAKE, Crex, a genus of birds of the rail family (rallida), differing from the true rails in having the bill shorter than the head and comparatively thick. The wings are also armed with a small concealed spine. The name is derived from the harsh call-note of the male. The best known species is the common corn-crake or land-rail (C. pratensis), the frequent call-note of which is heard from every field of corn or rye-graiis in valleys and low grounds in the early part of summer, and is associated by almost every inhabitant of Britain with all that is pleasant in that pleasant season. The corn-crake is a very pretty bird, of a reddish-brown color, marked with dark-brown in streaks along the middle of the feathers, lighter below; it has rather long legs and long toes; the tail is very short and pointed. It runs very swiftly, so as to be able sometimes to escape from a dog; but flies rather heavily, although it is a bird of passage, and is seen in Britain only iu summer. It visits, in like manner, all the northern parts of Europe, and extends its migrations even to Iceland, spending the winter on the shores of the Mediterranean and in Africa. Its call-note may be so exactly imitated by passing the
edge of the thumb-nail briskly along the points of the teeth of a small comb, that it can thus be decoyed within a short distance, although it is a very shy bird, and multitudes are familiar with its cry who never saw it in their lives. Its weight is ordinarily about six ounces. It is very highly esteemed for the table; and, according to Drayton, "seldom comes but upon rich men's spits." Two or three other species, very rare in Britain, but more common in the southern parts of Europe, are chiefly found in marshy grounds,• and sometimes receive the name sora (zapornia). With them is ranked the Carolina rail or sora rail (C. Carolinus) of North America, which spends its winters in the. states near the gulf of Mexico, but migrates northwards in summer, and is sometimes seen in vast numbers about marshes and the reedy margins of lakes and rivers, particularly in its migration southward in autumn. Its size is about equal to that of the corn-crake; and its color is very similar, but with mingled short streaks of white. It is much esteemed for the table.