GALLINCLA, Lath. Tern. RALLUS, Lin. CRAKE Bill shorter than the head, compressed, conical, deeper than broad at the base ; the ridge advancing on the fore head, and, in some species, dilated into a naked plate; tips of both mandibles compressed, and of equal length, the upper slightly curved, the nasal foss very wide, the lower mandible forming an angle; nostrils lateral in the middle of the bill, longitudinally cleft, half closed by a membrane, 'which covers the nasal foss; legs long, naked above the knee ; fore-toes long, divided, and furnished with a very narrow edging; wings of moderate dimensions.
G. crex, Lath. Rallus crex, Lin. kc. Land Rail, Corn-Crake, Crake, Crake Gallinule, Daker- Hen, kc. Grey above, rufescent white beneath, wings reddish-rusty ; bill and legs brown-ash ; feathers of the body reddish-brown, the upper ones blackish in the middle ; chin very pale; irides hazel. About nine inches and a half long, weight from six to eight ounces, and extent of wing sixteen inches. It inhabits the sedgy tracts of Europe and Asia. From its appearance at the same time with the quails, from its frequenting the same places, and being erroneously sup posed to conduct these birds, it has sometimes been termed Xing of the Quails. Its well known cry, from which its name, in most languages, has been deduced, is first heard as soon as the grass becomes long enough to shelter it, and seldom ceases till the herbage and corn are cut down ; but, as the bird skulks in the thickest cover, it is not often seen, and it runs so nimbly, winding and doubling in every direction, that it is approached with difficulty. When hard pressed by a dog, it sometimes stops short, and squats down, by which means its too eager pursuer over shoots the spot and loses the trace. The land-rail seldom springs up but when driven to extremity, and it generally flies with the legs hanging clown, but never to a great distance. As soon as it alights it runs off, and before the fowler has reached the spot, it is already a considerable way from him. It will sometimes alight on a hedge, and perch, sitting motionless, until the sportsman, who fan cies it to be on the ground, almost touches it. Besides corn and grass, it likewise haunts the furze or broom of commons and heaths. It is a migrative species, appear ing with us about the latter end of April, and departing about the middle or close of September. In Ireland it is supposed to remain throughout the year. On its first
appearance, and until the female begins to sit, the male is frequently heard to make a singular kind of noise, much resembling that of a comb when the finger is drawn along the teeth of it, and which is used as a decoy. The nest is loosely formed of moss or dry grass, generally in some hollow place among thick grass, and the female lays from seven to sixteen eggs, of a reddish-cinereous white, mark ed with rusty and ash-coloured spots and blotches. The young run about as soon as hatched. This species abounds in some years and is more rare in others. Besides insects, slugs, and small worms, it feeds on the seed of the furze, clover, and various plants.
G. porzana, Lath. Re. Rallus porzana, Gmel. Spotted Gallinule or Spotted Water-Hen, Spotted Rail. Lesser Spotted Water-Rail, Prow. Skitty. Olive-brown, vari egated with spots and dashes of black and white above, ash-coloured, with white marking beneath ; bill greenish yellow, but red at the base; legs greenish-yellow; iris brown. Length from seven to nine inches; weight about four ounces and a half. This elegant species, which has many of the habit sand manners of the preceding, inhabits Europe, the western parts of Siberia, and North America. It is migratory, and scarce in England, although Latham alleges that it breeds in Cumberland. We believe that it is not found farther north in Britain, but in Devonshire, Hampshire, Sussex, and Caernarvon, it has been repeatedly observed, and sometimes so early as the 14th of March, and so late as the 23d of October. In this island it is seldom found far in the interior, and it chiefly resorts to the marshes and to the borders of small streams, well clothed with reeds and rushes, among which it conceals itself, so as to be with difficulty discovered. The nest is a singular construction, composed of rushes, matted to gether, in form of a boat, and fastened to one or more reeds, so as to float on the water and rise and fall with the stream. The eggs are from seven to twelve, and of a yellowish-red, marked with brown and cinereous spots and dottings. The young can swim and dive immediately on their exclusion from the egg, and quickly separate in different directions; nor do the sexes associate except in pairing time. We may therefore conclude that they are of a shy and distrustful temper. Their flesh is fattest in autumn, when it is esteemed a great delicacy.