PRELIMINARY CLASSIFIED NOTES 333 



and it has been recorded as far south as Pondoland in the eastern Cape Colony, as 

 well as casually in Madeira and the Azores, Scandinavia, the Faeroes, and Iceland. 

 [F. c. B. J.] 



3. Migration. Probably bred formerly in England, but now known as a rare 

 irregular visitor, occurring chiefly in the spring and summer months. The southern 

 and eastern counties of England are the most frequently visited, and the species is 

 described as a very rare occasional visitor to North Wales, and as a rare casual, 

 chiefly in summer, in Yorkshire : in Scotland it has reached the northern isles, but is, 

 generally speaking, very rare (cf. Saunders, III. Man. Brit. B., 2nd ed., 1899, p. 381 ; 

 Forrest, Fauna of N. Wales, 1907, p. 258 ; and Nelson, B. of Yorks., 1907, p. 396). 

 It is a rare and irregular visitor to Ireland from March to November, chiefly to the 

 southern and eastern coastal districts : out of about thirty birds obtained in all, 

 only one was in Connaught, but a recent record (9th September 1908) refers to the 

 isle of Owey, off Donegal (cf. Ussher and Warren, B. of Ireland, 1900, p. 165 ; Ussher, 

 List of Irish Birds, 1908, p. 31 ; and Barrington, Irish Naturalist, 1908, p. 59). 

 [A. L. T.] 



4. Nest and Eggs. The usual site is among thick reeds, but occasionally a 

 nest may be found on a stump or among the branches of a pollarded tree. It is not 

 unlike that of a waterhen, but much more roughly built of twigs, sedges, reed-stems, 

 etc., lined with flat leaves of water-plants, dead flags, sedges, rushes, etc., generally 

 close to the water-level except when in stumps or bushes, and then only a few feet 

 above it. (PI. LXXI.) The share of the sexes in building is not known. The eggs are 

 rather elongated in shape, dead white when first laid, and generally varying in 

 number from 4 or 5 to 7, though occasionally much larger numbers have been found 

 in one nest. (PL R.) Average size of 102 eggs, 1'37 x 1-02 in. [34'8 x 25-9 mm.]. 

 Incubation is stated by Naumann to last for 16 to 17 days, though Hocke was of 

 opinion that the period was slightly shorter. Definite information is still lacking 

 as to whether the male assists the female in incubation, but a male shot in 

 Norfolk showed incubation patches, so that probably both sexes take part in the 

 work. In Middle Europe most eggs are found from early June onward, exception- 

 ally during the last fortnight of May, while second layings (or perhaps third) may 

 be found till late in July. In South Spain eggs may be found even in the first 

 week of May, but generally two or three weeks later. Only one brood is normally 

 reared in the season. [F. c. R. or.] 



5. Food. Chiefly small fish (young tench (Tinea vulgaris), perch, and also 

 Carassius vulgaris and Cobitis fossilis), though no doubt frogs, the smaller reptiles, 



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