Crake which I believe, is perfectly accurate, having been
informed that the bird will put on the semblance of death
when exposed to danger from which it is unable to; escape.
The incident was t h i s A gentleman had a Corn Crake
brought to him by his dog, to all appearance quite dead.
As it lay on the ground, he turned it . over with his foot,
and felt convinced that it was dead.. Standing .by, however,
in silence, he suddenly saw it open an eye. -He then
took it up ; its head fell ; its legs hung loose, and it appeared
again quite dead. . He then put it in his pocket,
and before long he felt it all alive, and struggling to
escape. He then took it oiit; it was as . lifeless as;before.
Having laid it again upon the ground and retired to>.some
distance, the bird in about five minutes warily raised its
head, looked round, and decamped at full speed.”
The beak is pale brown ; the hades hazel; over #ie.^eye
and ear-coverts, and on the cheeks, ash-grey; the he§d
and neck all round, the hack, scapulars, and tertials, pale
yellowish-brown, each feather having an elongated central
streak of very dark brown; tail-coverts and tail-feathers
the same; wings and wing-coverts rich reddish-chestnut;
quills brown, tinged with red; breast, belly, flanks, and
under tail-coverts, pale buff, barred transversely on the sides
and flanks with darker reddish-brown ; legs, -toes, and claws,
pale yellowish-brown.;
si The whole length is rather less than 'eleven jinches. Erom
the carpal jo in t’ to the end of the longest feather -in the
wing, five inches %nr lines. jF em a le s are rather smaller
than males, and, asr-well as . young birds_;of the year, have
th e ash-grey on the side's of the head less distinct and pure,
and the chestnut/colour of the wing, mixed fwitn ,d a ^ p ’
reddish-brown
Young Land Kails are at first coyere^ with black down,
but sbdu1 acquire their first f^^g^stjnd,'according J q Mr.
Selby’s observation,, are able to fly inabout six weeks.
Albinos are spmetimg’s ,met with’: .one'.shot near .Exeter
on 3rd 'May^is^recor^d^ by' Mr. Durban ('^ooi. '1§8T,
p. 261) as presented to the Museum of that city."
" Porzana maruet¥a (Leachy),.
I /TH E SPOTTED CKAKE. '
pow/ma. .
P^BZANAjifefc^f^y.V-Beak shorter than the head, slightly Signer than broad
at the base,^compressed, tapenng towards the' ^oin-t/nostrils linear and’ obloff^
nasal groove-reachHng'to the middle of the t i l l ; wings moderate and concave:
t^e, secp^dj ^ & p h e rfl^i^es|^ feiil short,-, rounded, the feathers narrow,
weak, and slightly carved y, Jibia. bare on th^lower p a rt; tarsi shorty scutellate
in ’front*; toes’ibng* and'’sleifdor ; 'claws Toijg, cfcrvedj atid^hcutfejy tapering.
. This',prettily* marked bird is, like the-» Land Rail last
described, a. summer visitor to this , country; Mr.Lubbock
mentions its spring arrival in Korfolk- as ‘taking place :with
great regularilybetween thesl'Sth and 20th of March.; hut
Mr. HkiSt^vbnsbn says that of Tate/years'he has. no-record" of
appearances earlier, than the 21st,@f- that month;; and a
female killed, on 23rd March, I860,- at Ludbam, was then
forward in "egg. _From the.‘first .week, in May -to the end
of-that month Appears,' however, to; ber the: usual time for
'"'v/' Oriygomeftra »Leach,-Syst/Cat. M. & B. -Brit. Mud’. p.^Bi'^Syo j:
+ Analyse d’une*ilou^.^Ofnithol&gie41ementaire, -pi '69^(^846^,