when forced to do so; its flight is comparatively quick 
and well sustained when it really means travelling to a 
distance ; it is a very noisy bird, and has a variety of 
cries, of which one, that I take to be the pairing-call, 
much resembles the single “twit” of the Pied Wood- 
pecker, but is not so loud or harsh. A sudden loud 
noise, such as a clap of thunder or a gunshot, will often 
set off all the Crakes in a marsh screaming, twittering, 
and whistling for some minutes, but this habit is not 
by any means confined to this species, or indeed to its 
genus. As I have never myself seen the nest of this 
bird zz situ, I must refer my readers for precise details 
to other writers, and will merely say that the eggs in 
colour and markings resemble those of the Water-Hen 
much more than those of the Corn-Crake. 
In most of the marshes that border the Mediter- 
ranean, at least in the not inconsiderable number of 
these districts that I have personally visited, this Crake 
is very abundant on the double passage, and more or 
less common at other seasons, but I never met with it 
anywhere in such numbers as in the great swamps of 
Eastern Sicily, where, no doubt, many are permanently 
resident. 
