LITTLE CRAKE. 549 
generally laid towards the end of that month, but sometimes in the 
beginning. Its nest is generally very carefully concealed amongst the 
reeds and rushes that grow in the bird’s swampy haunt. Sometimes it is 
built on a large mass of decaying reeds which have been laid by the wind, 
and is placed from a few inches to a foot or more above the surface of the 
water. It is rather large for the size of the bird, very flat, and somewhat 
loosely put together. It is generally made of bits of flags, leaves of the 
common reed, coarse grass, and scraps of other aquatic vegetation. 
My friend Mr. Eagle Clarke has sent me the following note on this 
bird :—“ During a recent ornithological trip in South-east Sclavonia I was 
fortunate enough to find the nest, eggs, and young in down of this species. 
The nest (discovered on the 24th of May) was in an extensive and par- 
ticularly secluded shallow marsh near the village of Obrez. The surface 
of this marsh was clothed with sallow brakes, reed-beds, and areas covered 
with tussocks of sedge. The nest, containing seven eggs, was placed on 
the side, not in the centre, of one of these tussocks of medium size. It 
was merely a depression, amply lined with short broad pieces of withered 
reed-blades, and was about six inches above the surface of the water, 
which was here about eighteen inches deep. The young in down was 
captured alive on the large swamp known as the Obedska-bara, three days 
later. Attention was drawn to it by the loud clear note of the parent 
bird as our party was proceeding in a boat through a bed of sedge. The 
little creature was found after a few moments’ search; it was newly 
hatched, and was covered with down of a glossy black, with a beautiful 
dark green cast; the legs were bluish grey.” 
The eggs of the Little Crake are seven or eight in number, pale yellowish 
brown in ground-colour, indistinctly but evenly marbled and blotched over 
the entire surface with darker brown, and occasionally a few small very 
dark brown specks. Some specimens have the markings more numerous 
at the large end, where they form an ill-defined mass. They vary from 
1:3 to 1:2 inch in length, and from ‘9 to ‘85 inch in breadth. Eggs of this 
species very closely resemble those of Baillon’s Crake, but are larger ; 
the character of the markings is also very similar. It is not known 
that more than one brood is reared in the season. 
The Little Crake, when disturbed from the nest, generally prefers to 
slip quietly off into the water or surrounding reeds, and soon conceals 
itself, to await until the cause of its alarm has passed. It is very rarely 
seen at the nest, and in this respect does not differ from its congeners. 
The nest is very difficult to find, hid as it is so cleverly in the dense 
luxuriant vegetation of the swamps and marshes, and is usually discovered 
purely by accident, the sitting bird rarely, if ever, aiding the observer in 
his search. 
The general colour of the upper parts of the adult male Little Crake in 
