THE SPOTTED CRAKE IN THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 405 



29th October. About the close of October he believed the greater 

 number took their departure, but stragglers were occasionally met 

 with in November: records on the 2nd, 9th, 10th and 30th, in 

 different seasons, are given. Mr. Stevenson was assured by the 

 marshmen that this Crake might at times be found in mid-winter ; 

 but one shown to him, in the flesh, on the 2nd December, 1868, 

 was the latest he had ever known. Birds observed thus late in 

 the year were almost invariably in immature plumage, and were 

 most probably the result of a late hatch, and therefore unable to 

 join the earlier migrants (' Birds of Norfolk,' vol. ii. pp. 393 — 395). 



From the " Ornithological Notes from Norfolk " for the years 

 1881 — 1883, communicated by the late Mr. Henry Stevenson to 

 the * Transactions of the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists' 

 Society,' I extract the following notes: — 



1881. — September: "An unusual number" shot in the 

 marshes. October : " In some numbers in the Broad district." 

 November: "Again this month I have heard of eight or ten 

 specimens shot in the Yarmouth neighbourhood, and four near 

 Lowestoft. I have reason to believe it still nests on the margins 

 of our wildest and most extensive Broads." 



1882. — October: A " good many" at Yarmouth. 



1883. — October: One or two at Yarmouth. November: One 

 on the 6th at Yarmouth. 



Lord Lilford (under date 16th May, 1890) kindly writes: — 

 "I have more than once met with it in East Norfolk in March; 

 and I know that the eggs are frequently found in that district 

 before the end of that month." 



Cambridgeshire. — The Rev. L. Jenyns (now Blomefield) 

 writes : — " I have known these birds killed in Bottisham Fen as 

 early as the 26th March, and occasionally during the summer and 

 autumn on to October, but not during the winter" ( s Observations 

 in Natural History,' 1846-, p. 185). 



Essex. — " A rare and local summer or autumn visitant. It 

 appears to be by no means common in the county, though it 

 seems possible, from a fact mentioned below, that it may breed 



on our coast Specimens procured on the 23rd April, the 



22nd August, early September, on several occasions in October 

 (up to 28th), and in November, are recorded" (Miller Christy, 

 4 Birds of Essex.') 



Leicestershire. — "Sparingly distributed, probably breeding. 



