LITTLE CRAKE. 549 



generally laid towards the end of that month, but sometimes in the 

 •beginning. Its nest is generally very carefully concealed amongst the 

 reeds and rushes that grow in the bird's swampy haunt. Sometimes it is 

 built on a large mass of decaying reeds which have been laid by the wind, 

 and is placed from a few inches to a foot or more above the surface of the 

 water. It is rather large for the size of the bird, very flat, and somewhat 

 loosely put together. It is generally made of bits of flags, leaves of the 

 common reed, coarse grass, and scraps of other aquatic vegetation. 



My friend Mr. Eagle Clarke has sent me the following note on this 

 bird : — " During a recent ornithological trip in South-east Sclavonia I was 

 fortunate enough to find the nest, eggs, and young in down of this species. 

 The nest (discovered on the 24th of May) was in an extensive and par- 

 ticularly secluded shallow marsh near the village of Obrez. The surface 

 of this marsh was clothed with sallow brakes, reed-beds, and areas covered 

 with tussocks of sedge. The nest, containing seven eggs, was placed on 

 the side, not in the centre, of one of these tussocks of medium size. It 

 was merely a depression, amply lined with short broad pieces of withered 

 reed-blades, and was about six inches above the surface of the water, 

 which was here about eighteen inches deep. The young in down was 

 captured alive on the large swamp known as the Obedskar-bara, three days 

 later. Attention was drawn to it by the loud clear note of the parent 

 bird as our party was proceeding in a boat through a bed of sedge. The 

 little creature was found after a few moments' search; it was newly 

 hatched, and was covered with down of a glossy black, with a beautiful 

 dark green cast ; the legs were bluish grey." 



The eggs of the Little Crake are seven or eight in number, pale yellowish 

 brown in ground-colour, indistinctly but evenly marbled and blotched over 

 the entire surface wjth darker brown, and occasionally a few small very 

 dark brown specks. Some specimens have the markings more numerous 

 at the large end, where they form an ill-defined mass. They vary from 

 1'3 to 1"2 inch in length, and from "9 to "85 inch in breadth. Eggs of this 

 species very closely resemble those of Baillon's Crake, but are larger; 

 the character of the markings is also very similar. It is not known 

 that more than one brood is reared in the season. 



The Little Crake, when disturbed from the nest, generally prefers to 

 slip quietly oflF into the water or surrounding reeds, and soon conceals 

 itself, to await until the cause of its alarm has passed. It is very rarely 

 seen at the nest, and in this respect does not differ from its congeners. 

 The nest is very difficult to find, hid as it is so cleverly in the dense 

 luxuriant vegetation of the swamps and marshes, and is usually discovered 

 purely by accident, the sitting bird rarely, if ever, aiding the observer in 

 his search. 



The general colour of the upper parts of the adult male Little Crake in 



