SPOTTED CRAKE. 335 



it for twenty minutes before a dog, previous to its 

 taking wing ; and it will often creep into some hole 

 or matted parcel of grass, rather than rise a second 

 time. We have also seen specimens taken near 

 Edinburgh, and Mr. Yarrell gives a notice of one 

 shot in Forfarshire, in October, 1832. We do 

 not, however, know its range in a northern direc- 

 tion. The nest is described as found in the vicinity 

 of its haunts, near the water, and to be constructed 

 of the dead parts of the reeds and grasses. The 

 eggs are numerous, pale reddish white, spotted with 

 dark reddish-brown. On the continent it occurs in 

 abundance or scarcity, according to circumstances. 

 In the vicinity of Smyrna it was found by Mr. 

 Strickland.* We have not seen or traced it to other 

 extra European localities. 



A specimen shot at Jardine Hall, in the month 

 of July, has the head, back, and rump, clear hair- 

 brown, approaching nearly to black ; on the crown 

 the feathers are edged with yellowish-brown ; on the 

 back and rump broadly with oil-green, the margins 

 with irregular white spots; on the lower part of 

 the back and wings, where the apparent colour is 

 nearly wholly oil-green, they are marked with white 

 lines, being both surrounded with a narrow border of 

 black ; the long tertials, nearly equalling the quills 

 in length, are crossed by irregular diagonal white 

 bars, surrounded by a broad shade of black ; quills 

 hair-brown, tinted with oil-green ; above the eyes, 

 the sides and front of the neck, greyish oil-green, 

 * Yarrell. 



