THE SPOTTED CRAKE IN THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 95 



1855, and others seen (Zool. p. 4946) ; and one Oct. 13th, 1873 



(J. Gatcombe, Zool. s. s. p. 4253). In my youth it was common 

 enough, on the estuary of the Exe, to be known to gunners as the 

 * Silver Kail.' I shot one myself, near Topsham, Sept. 17th, 

 1855 (Zool. p. 4895), and have seen others. Two occurred in 

 Braunton Marshes, North Devon, in September, 1874, and it was 

 thought to be numerous there (G. F. Mathew, Zool. s. s. p. 4253), 

 It is an occasional visitor to Lundy Island. The specimen men- 

 tioned by Mr. E. Parfitt, in his •' Birds of Devon," published 

 in the ' Transactions of the Devonshire Association ' (vol. viii.), 

 and alluded to by Mr. 0. V. Aplin in < The Zoologist ' (1890, 

 p. 411), notwithstanding an apparent discrepancy in the date, 

 is doubtless the one recorded by the late Mr. J. Gatcombe as 

 having been found dead on the railway near Tavistock, in October, 

 1863 (Zool. p. 8832). It is sometimes obtained very late in the 

 year, and, besides the specimen killed at Plymouth, Nov. 10th, 

 1855, a male was killed at Kingsbridge, Nov. 3rd, 1875 (Zool. s. s. 

 p. 4763), and the Bev. M. A. Mathew saw one, Nov. 19th, 1873, 

 on the north coast of Devon (Zool. s. s. p. 3826). It seems to be 

 more plentiful in some years than in others. In Mr. W. E . H. 

 Pidsley's recently published ' Birds of Devonshire,' p. 120, I find 

 the Spotted Crake included as " an autumn and spring 

 visitant, met with in sparing numbers between August and 

 November. Dr. Elliot considers that it may be termed 'rare' in 

 Devon." 



Wiltshire. — " In the Albert Memorial Museum, at Exeter, 

 is a specimen from Mr. Kobert Cumming's collection, which was 

 killed at Devizes, Wiltshire, June 4th, 1849" (Mr. W. S. M. 

 D'Urban, in above note). 



Warwickshire. — Mr. Coburn reports that " On the 19th 

 Sept., 1874, one was shot by Mr. Only, at Marsden Green 

 Warwickshire;" and he remarks that these are the only fresh- 

 killed specimens of Porzana maruetta which have passed directly 

 into his hands during the past twenty years. 



Worcestershire. — The following note was received by the 

 Editor from Mr. F. Coburn, Holloway Road, Birmingham: — 

 .' In Mr. 0. V. Aplin's interesting paper on the Spotted Crake, in 

 1 The Zoologist ' for November last, there is no mention of 

 Worcestershire. On the 29th August, 1889, 1 received a specimen 

 which had been caught alive at Bromsgrove, in that county. The 



