SPOTTED CRAKE. 51 



been accidentally killed by some mowers on the iyth. 

 The young quit the nest when hatched, and in 

 rather less than six weeks are able to fly. The female 

 sits very close, and often suffers in consequence, from 

 the unwitting scythe of the mower. 



SPOTTED CRAKE. 



SPOTTED RAIL. SPOTTED WATER-HEN. WATER-CRAKE. 

 SPOTTED GALLINULE. WATER-RAIL. 



PLATE CLXXtX. FIGURE II. 



Cnx porzana, SELBY. JENYNS. 



Gtillinula porzana, BEWICK. FLKMING 



Rallus porzana, MONTAGU. 



Ortygometra porzana, STEPHENS. 



THE nest of this Crake is put together of the larger 

 and smaller stalks of rushes, reeds, and other 

 water-plants, in marshy places, among beds of reeds, 

 and often at the water's edge, and so arranged as to 

 be capable of floating on the water, being thickly 

 lined with soft grass, and the edges well rounded. 

 Nevertheless, they are at times destroyed by the rising 

 of floods. 



The eggs are as many as from seven, eight, nine, 

 or ten, to twelve in number, and even eighteen have 

 been found together, but these doubtless the produce 



