BAILLON'S CRAKE 



37 



Baillon's Crake Although apparently at least as rare a visitor to 



/p Britain as the preceding species, Baillon's crake 



intermedia) {Porsana bailloni of the older books on British 



birds) is recorded to have bred several times in 



Norfolk and the Cambridgeshire fens, and its claim to a place in the 



British list is therefore, on this ground alone, if the eggs were rightly 



identified, indisputable. It has been taken once in North Wales, near 



Conway. 



The species ranges locally over a large portion of central and 

 southern Europe in summer, and in winter travels south to Africa 



baillon's crake. 

 [From a specimen in the British Mnseum.) 



and Madagascar, and probably the Persian Gulf. In eastern Europe 

 it is, however, replaced by the closely allied Porzana puszila, which 

 is a common bird in India and Burma during the cold season. The 

 species is chiefly a spring and summer visitor to Britain, although 

 examples are stated to have been taken in almost every month of the 

 year. While one writer ^ states that it is found chiefly in the southern 

 counties of England, although it has also been recorded from Derbyshire 

 and Yorkshire, a second ^ observes that it is almost entirely confined 

 to the eastern counties, and a third ^ remarks that it is less common 

 in Norfolk than elsewhere. Whatever may be the truth with regard 

 to this point, it appears that the species has been recorded once from 



1 Sharpe, Handbook of British Birds, vol. iv. p. 233. 



- Harting, Handbook of British Birds, p. 223. 



^ Saunders, YarrelFs British Birds, vol. iii. p. 155. 



