RALLID.E. 



509 





r^OrSi^-^-^r-X^^^ 



THE SPOTTED CRAKE. 



PORZANA MARUKTTA (Lcach). 



This species, smaller in size than the Land-Rail, is also a regular 

 spring visitor to England, but owing to the drainage of the fens and 

 the reclamation of marsh-land, it is far less plentiful than formerly. 

 In two excellent articles by Mr. O. V. Aplin (Zool. 1890, pp. 401- 

 417 and 1891, pp. 88-96), the collected evidence indicates that the 

 bird often arrives in Sussex and other southern counties by the 

 middle of March, and breeds wherever it finds localities suitable to 

 its habits ; though often supposed to be rarer than is really the case, 

 owing to its skulking habits. Among its known nesting-places may 

 be mentioned East Anglia, the Humber, Trent and Solway districts, 

 Durham and Northumberland, as well as several of the southern 

 counties, and the bogs of Breconshire in Wales. The majority 

 leave in October, but some remain through the winter, especially in 

 the south and south-west. On the east side of Scotland, where it is 

 chiefly seen in autumn, it has nested as far north as Elgin, while on 

 migration it has occurred in the Orkneys and thrice in the Shetlands 

 (in October) ; on the west it has bred in Kirkcudbrightshire and 

 Dumfriesshire, but has seldom been recorded north of the Clyde. 

 In Ireland, where it is rare, its occurrences are chiefly in autumn, but 

 its eggs have been found in Roscommon, and a nestling in Kerry. 



Although the Spotted Crake has twice been obtained in Green- 

 land, it has not yet been noticed in Iceland or the Faeroes. On the 

 Continent its northern range extends to about lat. 65° in Scan- 



