BAILLON'S CRAKE. 513 



CREX BAILLONI. 

 BAILLON'S CRAKE. 



(PLATE 23.) 



Rallus pusillus, Pall. Reis. Russ. Reichs, iii. App. p. 700 (] 776). 



Rallus bailloni, Vieill. N. Diet. d'Hist. Nat. xxviii. p. 548 (1819); et auctorum 



plurimorum (Temminck), (Degland fy Gerbe), (Yarrell), (Dresser), 



(Sounders), &c. 



Gallinula baillonii (Vieill.'), Temm. Man. d'Orn. ii. p. 692 (1820). 

 Gallinula stellaris, Temm. Man. d'Orn. ii. p. 693 (1820). 

 Crex baillonii ( Vieill.), Licht. Verz. Doubl. p. 80 (1823). 

 Ortygometra baillonii (Vieill.), Steph. Shaw's Gen. Zool. xii. p. 228 (1824). 

 Gallinula pygmsea, Naum., fide, Brehm, Lehrb. Naturg. eur. Vog. ii. p. 641 (1824). 

 Rallus minutus, Pall. Zoogr. Rosso- As. ii. p. 155 (1826). 

 Phalaridion pusilla (Pall.), Kaup, Nat. Syst. p. 173 (1829). 

 Crex foljambei, Montagu apud Eyton, Cat. Brit. B. p. 46 (1836). 

 Crex pygnuea (Naum.), Naum. Vog. Deutschl. ix. p. 567 (1838). 

 Ortygometra pyginaea (Naum.), Keys. u. Bias. Wirb. Eur. p. Ixviii (1840). 

 Porzana pygmaea (Naum.), Bonap. Cat. Metod. Ucc. Eur. p. 64 (1842). 

 Zaporina pyginaea (Naum.), Bonap. Cat. Parzud. p. 15 (1856). 

 Porzana baillonii (Vieill.), Degl. $ Gerbe, Orn. Eur. ii. p. 258 (1867). 



Bailkm/s Crake appears to be a very rare resident in the United 

 Kingdom. It has only been known to breed in the fens of Cambridge 

 and the Norfolk broads, but has occurred in Yorkshire, Derbyshire, 

 Somersetshire, and Cornwall. In Scotland it has only occurred twice, at 

 Caithness in the extreme north, and in Dumfriesshire in the extreme 

 south. It has also occurred in the Isle of Man, and three times in the 

 extreme south of Ireland. A bird so skulking in its habits and breeding 

 in almost inaccessible swamps may easily have been overlooked in other 

 localities. 



The geographical distribution of Baillon's Crake is either imperfectly 

 known or is a very singular one. This bird appears to be a local resident 

 throughout the whole of Africa, including Madagascar, on the northern 

 shores of the Mediterranean, India, Burma, China, and Japan, its numbers 

 being increased in winter by migrants from the north. To Central Europe 

 it is a summer migrant, but its range does not extend north of the Baltic. 

 Its occurrence in the Baltic Provinces appears to be doubtful, but in East 

 Russia it breeds as far north as lat 56. It has hitherto escaped detection 

 in Asia Minor, Persia, and South-west Siberia ; but it is a regular summer 

 visitor to South-east Siberia, and in winter visits the Philippine Islands, 

 Borneo, and the Andaman Islands. 



