SPOTTED CRAKE. 
CREX PORZANA (Linn.). 
Rallus porzana, Linn. 8. N. i. p. 262 (1766). 
Crex porzana, Naum. ix. p.523; Macg. iv. p.535; Hewitson, 
il. p. 3875. 
-Porzana maruetta, Yarr. ed. 4, iii. p. 148; Dresser, vii. 
p. 267. 
Poule deau-marouette, French ; Geflecktes Rohr-Huhn, 
German; Polluela, Spanish. 
This bird is a tolerably common spring visitor to 
many of the marshy districts of the three kingdoms, 
arriving in March and migrating southwards in 
September and October; many remain in our south- 
western counties throughout the winter, and when that 
season is tolerably mild a few linger in their breeding- 
localities in other parts of the country. From my own 
experience I consider that in general habits this bird 
closely resembles the Corn-Crake, but is more strictly 
aquatic than that species, though much less so than the 
smaller European Crakes and the Water-Rail. 1 have 
generally met with this Crake in England in October, 
haunting open marshy meadow-land on the sedgy banks 
of streams and ditches, rarely amongst reeds in the 
