28 

 CRAKE, BAILLON'S. 



G-ALLINULA BAILLONII, Temm. 



This species is very similar in appearance and 

 habits to the Spotted Crake, with this difference 

 only that it is much smaller and not so much 

 spotted. It is found in this country, the first speci- 

 men of which we have any record having been 

 caught upon the ice during the winter of 1823, 

 about nine miles south of Cambridge. Since that 

 time several others have been taken in the fens of 

 the Eastern Counties. It is a well known species 

 on the opposite coast of France, where it breeds in 

 the marshes, forming its nest of aquatic plants 

 among rushes. The female lays seven or eight 

 eggs, of an oval shape, of a light olive brown 

 colour, blotched with brown of a darker hue. 



Examples have also been brought from Italy, 

 Switzerland, Africa, and even from Japan, which 

 do not differ in appearance from those obtained in 

 England. 



CRAKE, LITTLE. 



GALLINULA PTTSILLA, Temm. 



Though neither this species nor the preceding 

 has been known to breed in this country, both have 

 been occasionally found in it. No doubt the chief 

 cause of their being so rarely obtained, is their 

 being so minute in size for an aquatic bird ; their 



