368 ALECT0RIDE8. 



Forzana maruetta. 



THE EUROPEAN SPOTTED CKAKE. 



Rallus porzana, Linn. S. N. ed. 12, 1. 1766, 262. 



Crex pofzana, Jexyns, Mau. Brit. Vert. An. 183o, 218. — Naum. Vbg. Deutscbl. IX. 1838, 523, pi. 



237. — Maogill. Man. 11. 114 ; Hist. Brit. B. IV. 1852, 535. 

 Ortijgoiiictra porzayia, Si-EVU. Gen. Zool. XII. 223. — BoNAP. Comp. List, 1838, 53. — Keys. & 



Blas. Wivb. Eur. 67. — Gkay, Ueu. B. 111. 593; Cat. Brit. B. 1863, 179. — Keinh. Iliis, 



1861, 12 (Greenland). 

 Gallinula maculata, Buehm, Vog. Deutschl. 1831, 698. 

 Gallinula punctata, Beehm, t. c. 699, pi. 36, fig. 3. 

 Orlygometra inaruetta. Leach, Syst. Cat. 1816, 34. 

 Porzana marucUa, Gray, List Gen. B. 1841, 91. — RiDGW. Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. Vol. 3, 1880, 



201, 222 ; Nom. N. Am. B. 1881, no. 573. — CoUES, Check List, 2d ed. 1882, no. 678. 

 Spotted Crake, Yare. Brit. B. ed. 2, III. 97, fig. ; ed. 3, III. 114, fig. 



Hab. Palsearctio Region; occasional in Greenland (cf. Reinhardt, "Ibis," 1861, p. 122). 



Sp. Char. Adult : Above, russet-brown, relieved b)- oblong spots of black and irregular, mostly- 

 longitudinal, streaks of white ; crown streaked with black, but without a median longitudinal stripe 

 of this color, as in P. Carolina ; a wide superciliary stripe, malar region, chin, and throat, soft mouse- 

 gray ; lower half of lores dusky, upper half dull whitish ; auriculars, neck, and jugulum light 



\ 



hair-brown, irregularly speckled with white ; abdomen whitish ; sides and flanks brown, barred 

 with white : crissum, plain creamy buff. Yoimy : Similar to the above, but superciliary stripe 

 finely speckled with white, the malar region, chin, and throat whitish, speckled with brown, the 

 breast and belly washed with pale buff. 



Wing, about 4.25-4.50 ; culmen, .68-.72 ; tarsus, I.20-I.30 ; middle toe, 1.25-1.35. Bill " red- 

 dish yellow, brighter at the base," iris reddish brown, feet yellowish green (Macgillivray). 



This species is about the size of the Common" Sora" of North America {Porzana carolirut), and 

 resembles it very closely in coloration, the upper parts being almost precisely similar. It may be 

 immediately distinguished, however, by the white speckling of the neck and breast, and the streaked 

 crown, characteristic of all stages, and in the adult plumage having no black un tlie lures or 

 throat. 



The " Spotted Crake " of Eno-laud. or " Porzane Marouette " of the FreDch, is, 

 according to M. Gerbe. a bird common in the greater part of Europe, Asia, and 

 Africa, and more especially in the warmer portions of that region. It is a bird of 

 the old continent, and has no other claim to a place in our fauna than its occasional 

 presence in Greenland. Gerbe says that it is not rare in any part of France, not even 

 the more northerly, where it usually arrives in ]\Iarch. and from ^vliiidi it departs in 



