THE BIRDS OF HELIGOLAND 515 



308.— Baillon's Crake [Zwerg-Sumpfhuhn]. 



CREX PYGM.EA, Naumann.i 



Heligolandish : Liihr-liitj Akkerhennick = iSmaWest Field-hen. 



Crex pygmwa. Naumann, ix. 567. 



Baillon's Crake. Dresser, vii. 275. 



Poxde-d'eau Baillon. Temminck, Manuel, ii. 692, iv. 440. 



I hap23cned oue fine afternoon in May to be standing in front of 

 my house leaning on a low fence, having a talk with an old sailor, 

 when a small bird came flying up the street and settled on 

 the ground between us, so that it almost touched the toes of my 

 boots. I whispered in some excitement : ' Look 1 here is a bird 

 sitting between our feet which I have never yet seen on the island ; 

 how can I secure it ? ' The bird was a beautiful male of that hand- 

 some sjJecies, Baillon's Crake. The next moment it had flo\vn off 

 down the street. It settled, however, at a distance of about forty 

 paces, by a high paling belonging to a garden along which there was 

 a scanty growth of grass, and crept through a very small opening 

 in the paling to the other side, where there was a space of about 

 twelve feet square, densely overgrown, like a corn-field, with the 

 stems of the Common Rocket, from three to four feet high and 

 most of which were dead : hither the bird had fled for refuge. How 

 was one to get it from a place where shooting was prohibited ? 

 This seemed, indeed, an almost hopeless undertaking. I went off as 

 quickly as possible to Claus Aeuckens, who lived close by, and in as 

 few words as possible explained the matter to him, and asked for 

 his advice. He at once took hold of what is called here a 'Ketcher ' 

 — i.e. a SAveep-not fastened to a stick about eight feet long — and 

 hastened with me to the spot. Aeuckens, who is a thorough adept 

 in matters of this kind, next began to push the stick of the ' Ketcher ' 

 fi-om the other side of the paling along the ground among the 

 dead shrubs, shakmg it a little as he did so. He repeated this 

 manojuvre foot by foot, and had scarcely reached the opposite edge 

 of the enclosure when the bird came slipping out of its lurking- 

 place like a mouse, but was at once covered with the net. Drawing 

 a deep sigh of relief we looked at each other, for we had scarcely 

 expected that we should accomplish our task successfuUj-, however 

 skilfully we might set about it. Every zealous collector will under- 

 stand my joy when 1 held in my hand this new addition to the 

 birds of Heligoland, until then never seen on the island. Before 

 concluding this narrative, I ought to mention that the paling was 



' Porzana hailtoni (Vieill.). 



