EALLID^. 1J79 



'Mr. Piodil knew of four instances of the occurrence of Baillon's Crake 

 in Cornwall ; one of them, which was sent to Mr. Vingoe, at Penzance, 

 for preservation in July 1858, was an adult male. We can consider the 

 absence of this small species of Crake from the Devon list as only due to 

 the extreme difficulty of flushing and securing it, and think it possible it 

 may have been obtained occasionally without being identified, as there 

 seems no reason why it should not visit the county. It is not mentioned 

 in Mr. Mansel-Pleydell's ' Eirds of Dorsetshire.' 



Baillon's Crake has beeu detected nesting in Cambridgeshire and 

 Xorfolk. In the summer-time this small species appears to be widely 

 distributed over the south of Europe.] 



Little Crake. Porzana parva {^co^.). 



A casual visitor, chieflv during the autumn and winter, and of rare 

 occurrence in the spring and summer months. The first example of this 

 species made known in Britain was shot near Ashburton in 1809, and 

 Col. Montagu received it from Dr. Tucker of that place *. It is now in 

 the gallery of British Birds at the South Kensington Xatural Histor)' 

 Museum. This specimen was figured and described in the supplement 

 to the ' Ornithological Dictionary' under the name of 'Little Gallinule,' 

 and appears to be a female, but the sex was not noted (Yarrell's B. Birds, 

 2nd ed. iii. p. 101). 



Another was obtained by Drew in August 1831 (E. M., Mag. Nat. Hist. 1837) ; and 

 under the name of ' Olivaceous Galliiiuie' Moore states that "one in the possession 

 of Mr. Drew was di.«covered fluttering against a house in the town of Devonport, and 

 was caugln by some boys 13th May, 1829 " (Trans. Plyin. Inst. 1830, p. 332). He 

 also mentions that '" Mr. Newton shot this bird on tlie borders of a rivulet running 

 through the lawn at ^lillaton " (Rowe's Perauib. Dartmoor, App. p. 234). A woundetl 

 bird Was picked up by some buys in the Willow Plat on the western Backway at 

 Kingsbridgc, July 27th, 1S55 (H. N., M8. Notes). One shot on Praunton Burrows, 

 February 4th, l87l>, was recorded at the time as Badlon's Crake (.VI. A. M., Zool. 

 187fj, p. 4815; IS'JI, p. 04). It seeuis probable that this species occasionally breeils 

 in the county. 



About the year 1850, Mr. Murray W. Mathew was accustomed fre- 

 quently to shoot Snipe on Progmore, which was then a tract of swampy 

 moorland situated about seven miles to the north of Barnstaple on the 

 Ilfracombe road, but has since been almost enclosed. He tlien possessed 

 a very well broken " dropper,'" a cross between a setter and pointer, and 

 this dog was extremely fond of hunting and catcliing Water-Hails, Jack 

 Snipe, «kc., and one winter caught alive three specimens of the Little 

 Crake. Unfortunately, these birds were not properly i)rescrved at tlie 

 time, and perislied ; but years after Ave saw u ijortion of the skin of one 

 of them, which proved a female Little Crake. Sul)se(pu'ntly we ourselves 

 almost trod on a Little Crake one day by the side of a rushy ditcli on the 



* William Markwiek Becms to Iinvc met witli a Little Cnikc in jMiirch 17'.M in 

 Pusses, but failed to distinguish it from ihe .Sjiolted Crake (Zool. IS'JU, \>\u 314, 



y4.'>). 



