BAILLON’S CRAKE. 401 
p- 974), “the little crake in general colouring ap- 
proaches the water rail, while Baillon’s crake more 
nearly resembles the spotted crake.”’ In the little crake, 
according to Yarrell, the white spots on the upper surface 
are confined to the back and scapulars, but do not ex- 
tend to the wing-coverts, whereas in Baillon’s crake they 
are much more numerous, and more generally dispersed 
over the back and wings. In Baillon’s crake, also, the 
outer web of the first primary is always white, the same 
in the little crake being as constantly brown. 
CREX BAILLONI (Vieillot.) 
BAILLON’S CRAKE. 
Messrs. Gurney and Fisher describe this diminutive 
rail as “very rare, but less so than the little crake,” 
yet, to my surprise, I find the records of its occurrence 
far less frequent; and although a nest and eggs pre- 
sumed to belong to this species, have been recently 
discovered, for the first time, in Norfolk, I know of 
no instance in which it has been killed in this 
county during the last twenty years. Mr. Lubbock, 
in his “ Fauna,” states that, to his knowledge, “it has 
been shot three times on Barton Fen, and appears far 
more rare than it really is, as it creeps and skulks about, 
and scarcely any dog, however sagacious, can compel it 
to fly.’ The same author also remarks in a commu- 
nication to Yarrell, “On the 2nd of April, 1833, a fen- 
man of my acquaintance killed an adult male of this 
species, upon a marsh at Dilham, in this county; it is 
now in my possession. Three years previously he had 
killed another at Barton, an adjoining parish; it was 
late in autumn, and the bird was in immature plumage.” 
A specimen in Mr. J. H. Gurney’s possession was thus 
recorded by him in the “ Annals of Natural History ” 
2F 
