CRAKES 223 



The measurements above given were taken from 

 one which I shot in Sussex in Oct. 1872 (ZooL, 1890, 

 p. 410). I used to meet with it in the marshes lying 

 between Sidlesham and Selsea, where it might some- 

 times be seen in the broad dykes swimming like a 

 little Moorhen, nodding its head and flirting its tail. 



The late Capt. A. Clark Kennedy wrote me word 

 that he had seen this bird on two occasions on the 

 Nith in Dumfriesshire, and had once found its nest 

 in Kirkcudbrightshire — often in Suffolk. 



In Ireland, according to Mr. Ussher, it is a rare 

 visitor, chiefly in autumn, but has bred in Co. Ros- 

 common, and it is believed also in Co. Kerry. 



The distribution of the Spotted Crake in the 

 British Islands has been well worked out by Mr. 

 O. V. Aplin; Zool, 1890, p. 401, and 1891, p. 88. 



Weight, 4i to 5 oz., or the weight of a Snipe. 



BAILLON'S CRAKE. Crex hailloni (Vieillot). PI. 26, 

 fig. 4. Length, 7 in. ; bill, 0-5 in. ; wing, 3-5 in. ; 

 tarsus, 1 in. 



As the nest of this species has several times been 

 found in Cambridgeshire and Norfolk [cf. Sealy, 

 Zool, 1859, p. 6329; Overend, Zool, 1866, p. 389 ; 

 and Stevenson's *' Birds of Norfolk," ii. pp. 402, 403), 

 and the bird itself has been procured in almost 

 every month of the year, it is included in this part 

 of the " Handbook " as a local resident in England, 

 where it appears to be almost entirely confined to 

 the eastern counties. One was picked up under 

 telegraph wires near Nottingham on June 22, 1893 



