THE SPOTTED-CRAKE 575 



haunts are swampy places overgrown with tussocks of rank grass, 

 reed-beds, and choked-up ditches, and, as may well be imagined, even 

 when a breeding pair is located, in such dense cover it is difficult to 

 catch more than an occasional glimpse of them as they thread their 

 way through the tangle with the greatest ease. In fact, the only 

 chance of making any systematic observations on this species depends 

 on the rather remote prospect of finding a nest, and unfortunately of 

 late years none has been discovered in England, though no doubt a 

 few still breed annually. 



In 1890 and 1891 Mr. O. V. Aplin published in the Zoologist the 

 results of his inquiries into the status of this species as a British 

 bird, 1 and at the close of the first paper summed up the results as 

 follows: (1) It is "an early spring migrant to this country, arriving 

 from the second week in March onwards. (2) It probably breeds in 

 every county of England and Wales which affords a sufficiency of 

 swampy or boggy ground with plenty of cover, or of lakes and rivers, 

 the banks of which are overgrown with reeds, rushes, and rank 

 vegetation. It becomes much more uncommon in Scotland, where 

 at present it has been recorded as breeding on the east side only, 

 although a good many instances of its occurrence on the west side in 

 autumn are on record. On the mainland it has been recorded as far 

 north as Ross-shire, and stragglers have reached the Orkneys and 

 Shetlands; but in the Hebrides it has not been noticed. (3) It 

 habitually remains in this country up to the end of October, and often 

 until the beginning of November. (4) In some parts, chiefly the 

 west and south of England (e.g. Cumberland, Lancashire, Hampshire, 

 Cornwall), it frequently, if not habitually, remains during the whole 

 winter; while occasional occurrences at that season have been 

 noticed in many localities." 



w 



There is little doubt that most of Mr. Aplin's conclusions are 

 correct. Howard Saunders, in the face of the new evidence, 

 abandoned the position that the spotted-crake did not reach our 



1 Zoologist, 1890, pp. 401-417 ; 1891, pp. 88-96. 



