PORZANA PYGM^A. 143 
Baillon's Crake, that unless the bird be obtained it is impos- 
sible to tell to which species they belong. 
The Little Crake has no white marks on the wing-coverts, 
and very few on the centre of the back;, and is slightly larger 
than Baillon's Crake. 
Length 7 inches. 
202. PoRZANA MARUETTA, Lcach. The Spotted Crake. 
Spanish. Polluela (under which name the next four species 
are also included). 
" This bird is met with near Tangier during passage, but 
not in any great number, and is the most common of the 
family, haunting thick beds of rushes in swamps and on the 
edges of lakes and rivers." — Favier. 
The Spotted Crake is extremely abundant on the Spanish 
side, being more numerous than the Water-Rail, and is most 
frequent in spring and autumn. Many remain during the 
winter months ; and they occur also sometimes in the 
breeding-season; so, although I did not actually obtain an 
identified nest, I have no doubt they are to be found breeding 
in the country. 
203. PoRZANA PYGMiEA, Naum. Baillon's Crake. 
Favier says of this bird : — " Very rare ; I only met with 
one, in 1857." 
Seldom obtained, owing to its skulking propensities. I 
found this prettily marked Crake very common when snipe- 
shooting at Casa Vieja from October to February. We also 
obtained it at the Laguna de Janda in May. Many are 
resident, breeding at the end of April, when they make a 
small nest of sedges and grass placed at the edges of 
swamps, laying from five to seven olive-brown eggs spotted 
with darker brown. It is a smaller bird than the Little 
Crake, and further distinguished from that bird by the 
numerous white marks on the centre of the back, scapulars, 
wing-coverts, and inner secondaries. 
Length 6^ inches. 
