RAILS. 71 



ORDER FULICARI^E. 



FAM. RALLID^E. 



CORNCRAKE or LANDRAIL. Orex pratensis, (Bechstein). 



Yarrell, iii. p. 137; Hailing, p. 57; Dresser, vii. p. 291; 

 Seebohm, ii p. 535; Ibis List, p. 149; Rallus crex, Pul- 

 teney's List, p. 15. 



A common summer visitant, whose harsh note is 

 heard in the mowing grass and clover-fields soon 

 after its arrival, which is usually during the first 

 week of May. The nest, which is often cut out by 

 the mowers, generally contains from eight to ten 

 eggs, of a pale cream colour, blotched or spotted 

 with reddish brown. One of its migratory routes in 

 autumn lies in the direction of Swanage and the 

 neighbourhood, where as many as thirty have been 

 shot in one day in the early part of October. 



SPOTTED CRAKE. Porzana maruetta, (Leach). 



Yarrell, iii. p. 143 ; Dresser, vii. p. 267 ; This List, p. 147 ; 

 Crex porzana, Hailing, p. 58; Seebohm, ii. p. 540. 



A rare visitant on migration in spring and autumn. 

 In other parts of England it has occasionally been 

 observed during the winter. The authors of " The 

 Birds of Cumberland " report the case of one which 

 was constantly seen from the month of November 



