228 ALLEN'S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



the face more mottled, the breast and throat apparently never 

 so uniform grey as in the male. 



Adult in Summer Plumage. Very similar to the winter plum- 

 age, but not so distinctly varied with white above ; the white 

 dots also absent for the most part on the eyebrow, sides of 

 neck, throat, and breast, which are almost uniformly grey, the 

 latter slightly washed with brown. 



Young. Easily distinguished from the adults by its white 

 throat and more profusely spotted appearance. The streaks on 

 the back are also very distinct, as a rule. The adult plumage 

 appears to me to be gained without a moult, the grey colour 

 being gradually assumed as the spring advances ; but I have 

 not had a sufficient series to determine accurately the various 

 phases through which the species passes. The young bird has 

 the brown of the head continued to the base of the forehead. 



Range in Great Britain. The Spotted Crake, like so many 

 marsh-haunting birds, is rarer than it used to be before the 

 draining of the fen-lands. It is a summer visitor, nesting in 

 several of the southern counties of England, as well as in the 

 eastern counties as far north as Durham and Northumberland. 

 On the east side of Scotland, says Mr. Saunders, it has nested 

 as far north as Elgin, while en migration it has occurred in the 

 Orkneys, and twice in the Shetlands (in October) ; on the west 

 it has bred in Dumbartonshire, but has not yet been recorded 

 north of the Clyde. Mr. Ussher states that three eggs of this 

 species taken in Roscommon are in the Science and Art Museum 

 in Dublin ; and he says that, " though no other instance of the 

 nest having been taken in Ireland has been recorded, the 

 Spotted Crake probably breeds occasionally, for Mr. 

 Barton met with the species in Louth, in August. A pair were 

 shot in Queen's County by Mr. T. Trench, in August, 1880, 

 and another pair in Fermanagh, by Mr. George Husbands, in 

 the summer or early autumn of 1890. Thompson noted a 

 young bird obtained in August by Mr. Chute, in Kerry, which 

 exhibited remains of down." 



Range outside the British Islands. The present species nests 

 throughout the greater part of Europe, up to about 65 N. Lat. 



