SPOTTED CKAKE 169 



AVERAGE MEASUREMENTS. 



TOTAL LENGTH ... ... 10*5 in. Female smaller. 



WING 5-25 



BEAK 0'75 



TABSO-METATARSUS 1*8 ,, 



EGG 1'45 x 1*1 in. 



SPOTTED CRAKE. Porzana maruetta, (Leach). 



Coloured Figures. Gould, 'Birds of Great Britain,' vol. iv, pi. 

 88 ; Dresser, ' Birds of Europe,' vol. vii, pi. 496 ; Lilford, 

 1 Coloured Figures,' vol. iv, pi. 56. 



This bird, intermediate in size between the Corn-Crake 

 and Little Crake, is an annual summer-migrant to England, 

 though not plentiful. A certain number remain with us 

 during the summer to breed, others occur as birds of 

 double passage in spring and autumn, while a very few 

 sojourn in our Isles for the winter. In the south of 

 England the Spotted Crake usually arrives about the middle 

 of March (0. V. Aplin, < Zoologist,' 1890 and 1891). In 

 October there is a general move southward, both of the 

 birds which have remained throughout the summer, and of 

 those which arrive after the nesting-season, in the early 

 autumn. 



To Scotland the Spotted Crake is chiefly a passing 

 visitor in autumn, but it has bred in several counties : 

 specimens have been procured in the Orkneys and Shet- 

 lands. In the latter Islands the latest record appears 

 to be that of a female bird taken in 1901, close by Cliff 

 Loch, being the fourth obtained in the Shetlands (Saxby, 

 'Zoologist,' 1901). 



In Ireland this species is apparently scarce ; it has 

 been obtained chiefly in autumn. However, owing to its 

 skulking habits it is hard to estimate the numbers 

 which are annually overlooked in the spring and early 

 summer, i.e., during the close season from shooting. 

 Indeed, as pointed out by Mr. Ussher, when the sportsman 

 starts ' flapper ' shooting in early August, he invades the 

 haunts of the Spotted Crake, hence the number of speci- 

 mens recorded in that month. In October the birds appear 



