BAILLON’S CRAKE. 543 
CREX BAILLONI. 
BAILLON’S CRAKE. 
(PLate 28.) 
Rallus pusillus, Pall. Reis. Russ. Reichs, iii. App. p. 700 (1776). 
Rallus bailloni, Viel. N. Dict. d’ Hist. Nat. xxviii. p. 548 (1819); et auctorum 
plurimorum — (Temminck), (Degland § Gerbe), (Yarrell), (Dresser), 
(Saunders), &e. 
Gallinula baillonii ( Viedd/.), Temm. Man. d’ Orn. ii. p. 692 (1820). 
Gallinula stellaris, Zemm. Man. d’Orn. ii. p. 693 (1820). 
Crex baillonii (Vieill.), Licht. Verz. Doubl. p. 80 (1823). 
Ortygometra baillonii ( Viedll.), Steph. Shaw’s Gen. Zool. xii. p. 228 (1824). 
Gallinula pygmea, Nawm., fide Brehm, Lehrb. Naturg. eur. Vog. ii. p. 641 Ca 
Rallus minutus, Pall. Zoogr. Rosso-As. ii. p. 155 (1826). 
Phalaridion pusilla (Pall.), Kaup, Nat. Syst. p. 173 (1829). 
Crex foljambei, Montagu apud Eyton, Cat. Brit: B. p. 46 (1836). 
Crex pygmzea (Nawm.), Naum. Vog. Deutschi. ix. p. 567 (1838). 
Ortygometra pygmea (Nawm.), Keys. u. Blas. Wirb. Eur. p. \xviii (1840). 
Porzana pygmexa (Naum.), Bonap. Cat. Metod. Ucc. Eur. p. 64 (1842). 
Zaporina pygmea (Naum.), Bonap. Cat. Parzud. p. 15 (1856). 
Porzana baillonii (Viewll.), Degl. & Gerbe, Orn. Eur. ii. p. 258 (1867), 
Baillon’s Crake appears to be a very rare resident in the United 
Kingdom. It has only been known to breed in the fens of Cambridge 
and the Norfolk broads, but has occurred in Yorkshire, Derbyshire, 
Somersetshire, and Cornwall. In Scotland it has only occurred twice, at 
Caithness in the extreme north, and in Dumfriesshire in the extreme 
south. It has also occurred in the Isle of Man, and three times in the 
extreme south of Ireland. A bird so skulking in its habits and breeding 
in almost inaccessible swamps may easily have been overlooked in other 
localities. 
The geographical distribution of Baillon’s Crake is either imperfectly 
known or is a very singular one. This bird appears to be a local resident 
throughout the whole of Africa, including Madagascar, on the northern 
shores of the Mediterranean, India, Burma, China, and Japan, its numbers 
being increased in winter by migrants from the north. To Central Europe 
it is a summer migrant, but its range does not extend north of the Baltic. 
Its occurrence in the Baltic Provinces appears to be doubtful, but in East 
Russia it breeds as far north as lat 56°. It has hitherto escaped detection 
in Asia Minor, Persia, and South-west Siberia; but itis a regular summer 
visitor to South-east Siberia, and in winter visits the Philippine Islands, 
Borneo, and the Andaman Islands. 
