RALLID^. 



495 





THE SPOTTED CRAKE. 



PORZANA \tARUETTA (Lcach). 



This species, smaller in size than the Land-Rail, is also a summer- 

 visitor to the United Kingdom, but owing to the drainage of the 

 fens and the reclamation of marsh-land, it is far less plentiful than 

 formerly. It usually appears in May and departs in October, but birds 

 have l.een known to remain till mid-winter, and the occurrences 

 recorded from Norfolk in March were more ])robably due to indi- 

 viduals which had not left the country than to early arrivals. Owing 

 to its skulking habits, the Spotted Crake is often supposed to be rarer 

 than is really the case ; though very local, it breeds in J^ast Anglia, 

 the Humber, Trent and Solway districts, Durham and Northumber- 

 land, as well as in several of the southern counties, and among the 

 bogs of Breconshire in Wales. On the east side of Scotland it has 

 nested as far north as Elgin, while on migration it has occurred in 

 the Orkneys and twice in the Shetlands (in October) ; on the west 

 it has bred in Dumfriesshire, but has not yet been recorded north of 

 the Clyde. To Ireland it is a rare visitor, usually in autumn, but 

 its eggs have been found in Roscommon, and a nestling in Kerry. 



Although the Spotted Crake has twice been obtained in Green- 

 land, it has not yet been noticed in Iceland or the Fxroes. 

 ( )n the Continent its northern range extends to about lat. 65^ 

 in Scandinavia, though not quite so far in Russia ; and south- 

 ward, it is generally abundant in suitable localities during the 

 summer months ; visiting Heligoland on both migrations, especially 



