LITTLE CEAKE. 399 



mencing the change from immature to adult plumage, 

 the blue-grey tints appearing on the sides of the head. 

 On the 8th of May, 1855, a somewhat similar specimen, 

 sex not noted, was shot at Catfield, and, like the last, in 

 the centre of the "Broad" District. Mr. J. E. Harting 

 also informs me that on the 25th of October, 1867, he 

 flushed a little crake on a marsh adjoining the river Bure, 

 about five miles from Yarmouth, but having just dis- 

 charged both barrels at a snipe, was unable to secure it. 

 The bird rose so close to him that he could mark the 

 absence of white . on the upper parts of the plumage, 

 and from this and its small size felt pretty sure as to 

 the species. It dropped amongst some thick reeds, and 

 eluded all attempts to make it rise again. 



With the exception only of the Bradestone bird re- 

 corded by Hunt, which, as before stated, was possibly 

 a Baillon's crake, I see no reason, from the authorities 

 I have quoted, to doubt the authenticity of any of the 

 above instances. With no less than thirteen occur- 

 rences then, in one county, of a species usually con- 

 sidered so rare, the little crake can scarcely be regarded 

 as a merely accidental vistant. If the habits also of the 

 larger, and certainly more abundant species of rails, are 

 difficult of observation, how much more so those of the 

 little and Baillon's crake, whose small size and strictly 

 aquatic nature afford every possible means of conceal- 

 ment, and render their capture at any time a mere 

 matter of chance. Judging, therefore, from the localities 

 in which our Norfolk specimens have been found, and 

 from the fact that the dates, where known, correspond 

 exactly with the spring and autumn migrations of the 

 spotted rails, we may, I think, fairly class the little 

 crake and the same reasoning applies equally to 

 Baillon's amongst those birds of passage,* which for a 



* In Mr. Lombe's notes we have two occurring in successive 



