2S0 THE BIRDS OF DEVOX. 



Braunton Burrows, at the end of January ; the bird, surprised by our 

 sudden approach, rose on wiug and llew down the ditch just above the 

 water while we were waiting for it to get a sufficient distance away to 

 shoot without destroying it as a specimen, but it disappointed us by 

 dropping all at once and running into a hole, whence we were unable to 

 procure it. Some time afterwards, when Snipe-shooting near the same 

 spot with ilr, G. F. Mathew, we saw him shoot the adult male Little 

 Crake mentioned in our account of the preceding species, as it ran across 

 a patch of grass from one tump of rushes to the other. This was a very 

 perfect specimen, which is still in our collection. 



Mr. liodd knew of but one Cornish specimen of the Little Crake, de- 

 tected by Mr. Gatcombe on 21st March, IbTS, in the shop of a bird-stuffer 

 at Stonchouse, which had been captured % a cat a few days previouslj", 

 at St. Domiuick, in Cornwall. From Mr. Gatcombe's description Ibis 

 example was, evidently, an adult female. Mr. Mansel-Plcydell could only 

 record two Dorsetshire Little Crakes, both shot at Alderholt Park, Ford- 

 ingbridge, and does not give the date. Mr. Cecil Smith mentions no 

 Somerset example ; but we know of one, an adult male shot near Bridg- 

 water, which was in the collection of Mr. Straddling, of Chilton Polden, 

 and, with the rest of his birds, came subsequently into the possession of 

 Mr. Henry Mathias, of Haverfordwest. Mr. Stevenson considered that 

 the Little Crake bred occasionally in Xorfolk. This species is a summer 

 migrant to the south of Europe, nesting commonly in Italy, Spain, &c., 

 and does not come far north. 



Coril-Crake. Crex pratcnsis, Bechst. 



[Land-Pail.] 



A summer migrant, most frequently met with at the seasons of migra- 

 tion. Montagu states that it has been rarely known to breed in South 

 Devon (Orn. Diet.), Mr. R. P. Nicholls finds it breeding in the Kings- 

 bridge district, and it is noted as a " constant breeder " on Lundy Island 

 (Trans. Devon. Assoc. 1876, viii. p. 30U). Mr. J. P. Chanter, however, 

 in his ' History of Lundy Island,' published in the Trans. Devon. Assoc, 

 tor 1871, makes no mention of its breeding there, though he includes it 

 amongst the " summer visitants '" to the island. 



The Corn-Crake arrives at the end of April, or in the first week in ^fay, 

 and departs at the end of October, but a few are occasionally met with in 

 the winter mouths. It is sometimes plentiful in autumn, congregating 

 for a short time in fields near the sea-coast in September and October, and 

 was formerly especially abundant on Lundy Island for a few days in 

 September, during the autumnal migration. According to the llev. H. G, 

 Heaven, it is now rarely seen on the island (M. A. M., Zool. 1^77, p. 388). 

 It is far more seldom seen in spring and summer than in autumn in the 

 south of the county. 



The Pev. P. Holdsworth stated that he was present at the killing of as 

 many as thirteen couple in a single day in September in South Devon 



