252 THE FOWLER IN IRELAND. 



BAILLON'S CRAKE (Crex bailloni} is even rarer still, 

 and, from its small size and skulking habits, is 

 exceedingly difficult to flush. There is a specimen 

 of this bird in the Kildare Street Museum, Dublin, 

 which was obtained near Youghal in October, 1845, 

 as recorded by Thompson ; and another, preserved 

 at Longueville, co. Cork, was shot on Mr. Long- 

 field's property, at Kanturk. A third, as recorded 

 by Mr. A. G. More, in The Zoologist (1882, 

 p. 113), was caught alive on Tramore Strand, co. 

 Waterford, on the 6th April, 1858, and preserved 

 in the collection of Dr. Burkitt, of Waterford, whose 

 name is well known to ornithologists as once the 

 possessor of the single Irish specimen of the now 

 extinct Great Auk. 



THE LITTLE CRAKE (Crex pusilla) is of such 

 very rare occurrence in Ireland that it is only 

 known with certainty to have been met with once. 

 This was at Balbriggan, as recorded in The Zoolo- 

 gist for 1854 (p. 4298), and the specimen is pre- 

 served in the collection of the Rev. Canon Tristram, 

 of Durham. I have, however, been recently in- 

 formed by Mr. Reeves, of Capard, Queen's County, 

 that he shot a specimen of Crex pusilla there in 

 April, 1871. From the similarity of size and mark- 

 ings, these two little Crakes may be easily con- 

 founded. 



" The Little Crake, in the general colouring of 

 the dorsal plumage," says Mr. Harting, "approaches 

 the Water Rail, while Baillon's Crake more nearly 

 resembles the Spotted Crake, although when adult 

 it has the blue-grey breast of the Water Rail. 

 The Little Crake exhibits a few white spots on the 



