144 BIRDS OF THE HUMBER DISTRICT. 



three specimens were shot ; from the 13th to the, 26th 

 there were twelve shot and three seen ; and on the 

 2nd of November a specimen was taken alive. I am 

 inclined to think that the Spotted Crake breeds with 

 us, although I have not obtained the egg. Out of 

 the sixteen specimens taken on the river Hull this 

 season, a majority have proved to be young birds 

 several, indeed, were so young I think they must have 

 been bred in the neighbourhood. On the evening of 

 the 26th of October I dissected three specimens, one 

 of which proved to be a mature female ; the other 

 two birds were, one a young male and the other a very 

 young female so young that it could not have 

 travelled far on the wing. The old and young birds, 

 too, have been observed and sprung together, or 

 within a few yards of one another." And again, in 

 the 'Zoologist' for 1866, p. 29: "Several of these 

 birds, in various stages of maturity, have been shot 

 on the river Hull during the summer of 1865." 

 Although there is every probability of its nesting in 

 these localities, I have no authentic record of the 

 discovery of the nest and eggs. 



193. CREX PUSILLA (Gmelin). Little Crake. 

 On the 9th of October, 1870, I flushed a specimen 

 of this extremely rare Crake from a small patch of 

 reeds near the Great Cotes stream. I had a most 

 distinct and perfect view of this bird both on the wing 

 and on the ground ; it flew past and round me within 



