Grallai 181 



reeds and so forth — ^and contains about eight creamy 

 white eggs with lUac and red-brown spots and streaks. 



The Spotted Crake {Porzana porzana) migrates to 

 us iu March and generally leaves in the late autumn. 

 It used to breed commonly in East AngUa and sparingly 

 in the bogs of other parts of the kingdom, including 

 Ireland, Wales, and Scotland below the Caledonian 

 Canal, but now the discovery of a nest must be an 

 exceptional occurrence. The structure is smaller than 

 that of the Water-rail, but is built in similar places ; 

 the spots on the eggs are darker and by no means so 

 large, giving them an entirely different appearance. 

 The spring note is much clearer and less mournful ; 

 otherwise the habits of the two species are almost 

 identical. The male is brighter than the female, and 

 is oUve-brown above with small white spots, the face 

 and throat being grey, the lower parts lighter with 

 broad dark stripes on the flanks. This Crake breeds 

 from mid-Scandinavia and Russia to the Mediterranean 

 southwards and west Asia eastwards. 



The Little Crake (P. parva) belongs to the list of 

 irregular visitors, but must be mentioned here as having 

 been mistaken for Baillon's Crake (P. pusilla), though 

 it has practically no white spots above. Both are very 

 small as compared with our other Rails, and only visit 

 us in spring and autumn. Baillon's Crake, however, 

 has remained at least four times to breed in the eastern 

 counties, which is not astonishing, as it does so regularly 

 in Holland, Russia, France, Italy, and thence to South 

 Africa. Instances of the bird's occurrence are very rare 

 in Scotland and Ireland, and they are hardly more 

 frequent in England, no nests having been found since 

 1858 in Cambridgeshire and 1866 in Norfolk. The 



