336 BAILLON'S CRAKE. 



each feather spotted on the tips white ; chin greyish- 

 white; breast and flanks oil-green, on the former 

 indistinctly marbled with white ; on the flanks barred 

 with white, relieved with black ; middle of the belly 

 nearly white ; vent and under tail-coverts ochreous ; 

 axillary feathers dark clove-brown, barred narrowly 

 with white as in some of the Scolopacidce ; bill 

 orange-red at the base, shading to yellow, in some 

 to greenish-yellow, at the tip brown ; legs and feet 

 greenish-yellow. 



BAILLON'S CRAKE, CREX BAILLONII. Crex Bail- 

 lonii, Illust. of Ornith. Gallinula Baillonii^ poule 

 d'eau Baillon, Temm. Zapornia Baillonii^ Stepk., 

 Gould. Baillons Crake or Gallinule of British 

 authors. This little Crake is almost a miniature 

 representation of the last, and is beautifully marked 

 on the upper parts with clear white spots. It is a 

 bird not frequently met with, both from being com- 

 paratively limited in numbers, and from the activity 

 it displays in eluding attempts to raise it from its 

 retreats. It has been taken in several of the English 

 counties as far north as Derbyshire ; but we have 

 no notice of it in Ireland. A specimen, w r hich w r e 

 shall immediately describe, is now before us, shot 

 in summer, a few years since, in an extensive moss 

 in this vicinity. Baillon's Crake seems to be taken 

 at all seasons with us, though most of the captures 

 recorded have been made very late in autumn, or in 

 winter ; the nest is said to be constructed similarly 

 to that of the last. In the marshes of the continent 



