SPOTTED CRAKE. 
PORZANA MARUETTA. 
InouGU the Spotted Crake .s said to be distributed over the whole of the eastern eounties of Seotlaud I have 
only on one oecas.on .dent, fled this species to the north of the Tweed, a very strongly marked s^eeimen 
having nsen at my feet m May 1864 from the water-plants growing round the swampy portion of the ground 
d-ff- ‘l/’ f f f'"® “ "““y owing to the inaccessible nature of its haunts and tho 
..a, . . , ‘ "S'’’ ““'■® reoontly. in the cast of Norfolk, the species has been met 
n.th m considerable numbers; in the marshes of Sussex it also makes a short st y in sprin. and a ftw ^ 
occasionally killed during tho return journey in autumn. ‘ 
To state aecui-ately the date at which the Spotted Crake leaves our shores on the approach of winter is 
t nigh impossible ; though the majority evidently take their departure before cold weather sots in a tew 
s ragglers are occasionally seen even as late as the new year, wounds or weakness probably account .fmtl!! 
incapacity to undertake a lengthened passage. My notes for 1871, while shooting in the east of Norfolk 
on am scveial entries relating to this species: on the 0th of October a couple shot on Ludham Hover are 
. u cd to , on the 11th six and a half couple were bagged by two guns round Ilcigham Sounds, and several more 
migli have been secured had I taken all the chances falling to my share*. Durin. the rema nl o the 
month many were seen on the various Snipe-grounds. On the IBth of November a%ingle bird was killed 
lleed ham, near Ludham ; and on the 21st of December, while crawling over a marsh near nicklim. to obtain 
a shot a Geese, I drove one from the shelter of some rushes, broken down by the effects of Lst and «mw 
Tuld '"I V" rll r?,’“ “PP™“>'-creeping stealthily out within the distance of a foot, there 
f -p 1 Fll 1 T identity. So recently as tlie ^yinters of 1879 and ’80 three more specimens 
t.esh killed, came under my observation ; a couple were secured by shore-gunners in the marsh-dles near 
loreham liar hour and the third was picked up disabled near the banks of the Adur, having probably struck 
against some obstacle while on flight. ^ ^ stiuck 
In Sussex I failed to discover the nest of this Rail, though a pair were obtained in a portion of Pevensev 
Leve known as Barnhorn Ponds early in April 1800. The first bird was sprung on the open marsh and easily 
killed; the second, rising shortly after, merely topped tlie coarse herbage for a yard or so, and immediately 
dropped into a thick bed of rushes near the edge of a dyke. All attempts to discover its whereabouts liaviim 
part of the country, I had engaged the services of one of the natives residing on the marsh, who was followed 
.portiag ™ter .0 bo Ib.t of the foil Snip.. I'ho ol.h.o ,oaIith, o, ,hi. .uooulcnt wo.,1 boro iv, erred oo ZnZZ 
o,..oq„..o,cd with tho foot rnisht bo irreliood to cry out .g.iu.t rvhul they would be plowed to term u„„oco„ory .l.uebtor 
