1 92 1.] Birds of Alderneij. 451 



Podiceps auritus. Tlie Slavonian Grrebe. 



A regular winter visitor in small numbers. This, as well 

 as the next S[)ecies, is usually met with either off the 

 Platte Saline beach or in Longy Bay. 



Podiceps cristatus. The Great Crested Grrebe, 

 A regular winter visitor in small numbers, but perhaps 

 slightly less numerous than the last species. 



Ralhis aquaticus. The Water-TJail. 



A l)y no means uncommon winter visitor. I cannot find 

 that it breeds here, nor have I met with it during the 

 breeding-season. L. tells me that, when out shooting, 

 he has frequently seen this bird sitting on a fence, or the 

 branch of a tree, watching the dog working in the ditch 

 below. This is, of course, a rather usual habit of the Moor- 

 hen, but I have not before heard of the Water-Rail 

 behaving thus. 



Porzana porzana. The Spotted Crake. 



L. shot one here on the 10th of November, 1891, and 

 has it in his collection. 



Porzana pusilla intermedia. Baillon's Crake. 



L. shot one in the autumn of 1<S91, the same year 

 in which he shot the Spotted Crake, but he has not the 

 exact date. The bird is in his collection. 



Crex crex. The Land-Rail. 



A common summer visitor and also a bird of passage, but 

 as such is more frequently met with in autumn than in spring. 

 L. says of this bird : — " From the end of August to October 

 large flights arrive with north-west and north-east winds. 

 Mr. R. G. May shot fifty on one day in September 1886. 

 My largest bag in one day was twenty-seven, but of late 

 years they do not come in such large numbers. When a 

 flight arrives it never remains over the second nioht." 

 The record of these large flights in September is very 

 interesting. Mr. Cecil Smith makes no mention of these 



