416 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



an extensive May immigration of Spotted Crakes at Heligoland, 

 it does not follow as a matter of course that we should have a 

 simultaneous immigration to our shores. In 1886 the Corn Crake 

 occurred several times in Heligoland in the latter half of May — 

 long after it had appeared and settled down in Great Britain. 



Conclusion. — To sum up the evidence previously adduced, 

 it seems clear that — 



(i). The Spotted Crake is an early spring migrant to this 

 country, arriving from the second week in March onwards. 



(ii). It probably breeds in every county of England and Wales 

 which affords a sufficiency of swampy or boggy ground with plenty 

 of cover, or of lakes and rivers, the banks and edges of which are 

 overgrown with reeds, rushes, and rank vegetation. It becomes 

 much more uncommon in Scotland, where at present it has been 

 recorded as breeding on the east side only, although a good many 

 instances of its occurrence on the west side in autumn are on 

 record. On the mainland it has been recorded as far north as 

 Ross-shire, and stragglers have reached the Orkneys and Shet- 

 lands ; but in the Hebrides it has not been noticed. 



(iii). It habitually remains in this country up to the end of 

 October, and often until the beginning of November. 



(iv). In some parts, chiefly the west and south of England 

 {e.g. Cumberland, Lancashire, Hampshire, Cornwall), it frequently, 

 if not habitually, remains during the whole winter ; while occa- 

 sional occurrences at that season have been noticed in many 

 localities. 



When we consider the shy nature and skulking habits of the 

 Spotted Crake, and the difficulty with which it is induced to fly, 

 also the nature of the localities it frequents, it seems probable that 

 these birds are far more abundant in England than is generally 

 supposed. Who indeed, unless assisted by one or two of the best 

 working dogs, could hope to see anything of the Spotted Crake 

 in an ordinary well-grown osier-bed or willow-holt, or along the 

 reedy margins of a slow-flowing river ? To say nothing of the 

 impenetrable swamps it often frequents, I know that along many 

 of our North Oxfordshire streams there are spots (worn-out osier- 

 beds and old plantations) in every way adapted to the Spotted 

 Crake's requirements, but from which if they contained a dozen 

 birds, it would be almost hopeless to attempt to flush them. The 

 Cherwell itself, with its bed often choked up with bur-reeds, rushes 



