408 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



here divides the counties of Middlesex and Buckingham. Two 

 others were shot at Jessop's Ait, Chiswick, in the autumn of 1862, 

 near Stone Bridge, on the Brent, on Oct. 16th. The late John 

 Dutton, of Hammersmith, had one in his collection which was 

 shot at Jessop's Ait, above mentioned, on the 12th Nov. 1868, 

 and reported two others obtained there about the same time. On 

 the 7th Oct. 1863, two, male and female, were shot in Hackney 

 Marsh by Mr. K. M. Presland, and on the 26th of the same month 

 another was shot at the same place by Mr. J. A. Clark. Finally 

 one in Mr. Harting's collection was procured near the Hyde 

 Bridge, on the Brent, in the month of October while looking for 

 Jack Snipe. Mr. Harting now adds the interesting fact that the 

 Spotted Crake has been ascertained to have nested in Middlesex. 

 Graves, the author of ' British Ornithology,' writing in 1821, 

 observed, " The Spotted Crake is met with in greater abundance 

 within a few miles of London than perhaps in any other part of 

 this kingdom. We have known this bird to breed in the fields 

 to the left of the Kent Road, called Bolls' Meadows. One of them 

 was killed, after which they forsook the spot " (vol. i. 2nd ed. 

 1821). 



Hertfordshire. — In the series of " Notes on Birds observed 

 in Hertfordshire," for the years 1881 — 1887, communicated by 

 the late Mr. J. E. Littleboy, of Hunton Bridge, King's Langley, to 

 the ' Transactions of the Hertfordshire Natural History Society,' 

 the following entries occur under the head of this species : — One 

 killed by the telegraph-wires at Watford, October, 1881. One 

 shot at Tring Reservoir, Sept. 1883; another in October, 1885. 



Wiltshire. — "Not uncommon, but so retiring and timid in 

 its nature that it escapes observation." One killed in September. 

 Several procured in October; one near Devizes in November, 1863* 

 and another at Melksham, December, 1879. "It is one of the 



earliest migrants to arrive, and one of the latest to depart 



There is a record of a nest of twelve eggs having been cut out of a 

 clover-field adjoining a marsh beside the stream at Mere, in June, 

 1881. One of these eggs was sent to the Editor of * The Field,' and 

 pronounced to be a genuine egg of C.porzana" (Rev. A. C. Smith, 

 4 Birds of Wiltshire,' pp. 442, 443). 



Somersetshire. — " Whether this bird is resident or migratory 

 may appear doubtful. There is a note in * The Zoologist,' by the 

 Rev. Murray A. Mathew, of his having shot two as lute as the 



