538 CREX PORZANA. 



early in March to the middle of November. Although gene- 

 rally dispersed in England, it is nowhere numerous ; and in 

 Scotland is of rare occurrence. I have, however, seen many 

 specimens obtained in Forfarshire, in the neighbourhood of 

 Aberdeen, and in various parts of that county, as well as in 

 Banffshire. Dr. Farquharson mentions it as breeding in 

 Alford. The nest is said to be of very large size, formed of 

 decayed aquatic plants, and often surrounded by water, 

 being placed among the reeds. The eggs, from seven to ten, 

 are ovato-oblong, an inch and a fourth in length, from ten 

 and a half to eleven-twelfths in breadth, pale reddish-grey, 

 spotted with umber or deep reddish-brown and brownish- 

 grey. The young, at first covered with black down, are 

 said to betake themselves at once to the water. I have 

 never met with this species, however, and therefore am very 

 reluctantly obliged to be content with a second-hand account 

 of its manners. Its flesh, according to Mr. Selby, is sweet 

 and well-flavoured, like that of the Corn Crake ; and " in 

 autumn it becomes loaded with fat, a layer of nearly a 

 quarter of an inch in thickness covering the whole surface 

 of its body. 



Young. — When fledged, the young differ from the adult 

 only in having the tints duller, the cheeks and throat 

 yellowish-white, the former faintly marked with brown, the 

 abdomen with more greyish-white, the bill of a lighter tint, 

 and the legs paler. 



