70 THE GAME BIRDS AND WILD FOWL 



Family EALLIDiE. Genus Ckex. 



Subfamily Balling. 



SPOTTED CRAKE. 



CEEX 'POB.ZA'N A— (Liiuums). 



Rallus porzana, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 262 (1766). 



Crex porzana (Linn.), Macgill. Brit. B. iv. p. 535 (1852); Seebohm, Hist. Brit. B. ii. 

 p. 540 (1884); Lilford, Col. Fig. Brit. B., pt. xvii. (1891); Dixon, Nests and 

 Eggs Brit. B. p. 335 (1893) ; Seebohm, Col. Fig. Eggs Brit. B. p. 84, pi. 22 (1896). 



Porzana maruetta (Leach); Dresser, B. Eur. vii. p. 267, pi. 496 (1878); Yarrell, Brit. 

 B. ed. 4 iii. p. 143 (1884). 



Porzana porzana (Linn.), Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxiii. p. 93 (1894); Sharpe, 

 Handb. B. Gt. Brit. iv. p. 226 (1897). 



Geographical distribution — British: The Spotted Crake is fairly 

 distributed in suitable districts in Great Britain, but owing to land reclamation and 

 improvement it has sadly decreased. It is found principally in the eastern 

 counties of England, between the Humber and the Thames, but it becomes more 

 local in the southern counties and in Wales. It is, however, known to breed in 

 Durham, Northumberland and Cumberland. On the east of Scotland it breeds 

 as far north as Elgin, but on the west not north of Dumfriesshire. In Ireland 

 it is principally known on autumn passage, but it has been found breeding in 

 Roscommon and Kerry, and has occurred in the Orkneys and Shetlands. Foreign: 

 Western Palsearctic region. It breeds in Scandinavia as far north as lat. 65°; in 

 West Eussia up to lat. 64°. In the Ural Mountains its range does not extend 

 beyond lat. 58°, whilst in West Siberia it falls still lower to lat. 55°. South of 

 these limits it is found in summer in Turkestan, as far east as Yarkand, and as far 

 north as Gilgit on the frontiers of Cashmere. It is said to be a partial resident 

 in Persia, but to the Caucasus and South Eussia it is only a summer migrant. 

 It is a resident in the basin of the Mediterranean, but a summer visitor only to 

 Central and Northern Europe. In winter it is found throughout Northern Africa, 

 as far south as Abyssinia, and may possibly breed in Egypt. During wiiiter it is 

 found throughout India, occasionally wandering into Burmah. Stray birds have 

 been obtained in Greenland, and it is said to be a fairly frequent winter visitor to 

 the Canaries. 



Allied forms.— Crex Carolina, an American species, which, as it has 

 visited the British Islands, is described in the following chapter. Crcxfluminca an 

 inhabitant of Australia, distinguished by having the axillaries barred with white, 

 and the vent black , 



