150 RALLIDiE. 



In addition to the above, Mr. Stevenson (B. of Norfolk, ii. 

 pp. 396-399), cites no less than twelve authenticated occur- 

 rences in the county of Norfolk alone ; most of them killed in 

 March, April, and May; one in August; and one seen, but not 

 obtained, in October. Since then another has been obtained 

 in the second week of November, 1882 ,^Zool. 1882, p. 374). 

 He argues that, judging from the fact that so many speci- 

 mens have actually been obtained of a bird whose skulking 

 habits and small size renders it so difficult of observation, 

 the Little Crake can hardly be considered as merely an acci- 

 dental visitor ; and he considers that both this species, and 

 Baillon's Crake, may fairly be classed with the birds of 

 passage which, for a time at least, periodically frequent our 

 marshes. In Lincolnshire, again, Mr. Cordeaux states that 

 he flushed one in October, 1870 ; and the bird is probably, 

 as Mr. Stevenson suggests, a far more regular visitor than 

 is generally supposed. 



The authority for the solitary occurrence of the Little 

 Crake in Scotland is Mr. Thomas Edward, of Banff, who 

 states (Zool. p. 6968) that a specimen was found dead at 

 Thornton, on the banks of the Isla, in March, 1852. From 

 Ireland, Canon Tristram (Zool. p. 4298) received a specimen 

 in the flesh, shot at Balbriggan, on the 11th March, 1854 ; 

 and, more recently. Sir R. Payne- Gallwey records a specimen 

 obtained by Mr. Reeves, shot at Capard, Queen's County, in 

 April, 1871.* 



Other examples have, no doubt, been killed in various 

 parts of England, but it must be considered a somewhat 

 rare bird, and, perhaps, is not always clearly distinguished 

 from the species next to be described. f 



The Little Crake has occurred in the south of Sweden, 

 and was even found breeding there on the 17th June, 1862 ; j 

 but it is more common in Denmark. In Northern Germany 

 it has been ascertained to breed in Holstein, Mecklenburg, 



* ' The Fowler in Ireland,' p. 252. 



t For instance, a bird recorded as a Little Crake by Capt. W. H. Hadfield 

 (Zool. p. 5280), as shot by him near Ramsey, Isle of Man, in 1847, is subse- 

 quently referred by him to Baillon's Crake (Zool. s.s. p. 3272). 



+ Westerlund, Petermann's Mittheilungen, 1870, p. 374. 



