320 
RALLIDiE. 
another was subsequently killed at Douce (Wicklow) late in the 
autumn, by a gentleman engaged in snipe-shooting. One was 
shot in the month of October 1834, near Portarlington (Queen's- 
county)."^ The Eev. Thomas Knox notes this bird as very rare, 
but that two or three individuals were seen, and one of them was 
killed, on the 7th of September, 1832, at the side of the river 
Shannon, near Killaloe (Clare) : its stomach contained the remains 
of some small shells, together with gravel. I was informed in the 
year 1837, by Mr. T. E. Neligan, of Tralee (Kerry), that he had 
shot a spotted rail near that town, at the end of July or beginning 
of August, about five years previously, and that he was aware of 
four or five having been since obtained. With reference to the 
same part of Kerry, Mr. E. Chute wrote to me in Eebruary 1846 
that two or three individuals of this species had come under his 
notice in the early part of winter, and that he saw one shot after 
Christmas. He had likewise procured a young bird in the month 
of August exhibiting some down, and hence concluded that it 
must have been brought out in the marsh in which its capture was 
effected. In the ^ Eauna of Cork,^ it was remarked respecting 
this rail in 1843 : — “ Perhaps more common than is generally 
supposed. It has been shot by my friend Mr. Adam Parker, in 
two or three instances within a short time. He and his brother 
(both ornithologists as well as sportsmen) have not unfrequently 
met with it for several years past. It occurred also to Mr. Eobert 
Davis, jun., in Tipperary^’ (p. 13). The author (Dr. J. E. Har- 
vey) further stated in a letter written to me in 1848, that one 
had been shot in October 1843, near Clay Castle, Youghal, and 
that a second was subsequently killed in the same locality. In 
the month of September 1842, a spotted rail was procured near 
Waterford, where the species is considered extremely rare.f 
Most of these birds killed in Ireland have fallen before 
snipe-shooters, and consequently after the 20th of September. 
They seem partial to particular localities from the circumstance 
of their being found frequenting them in different years. There 
can be little doubt of their breeding in the island, though no 
t Dr. R. J. Burkitt. 
* Rev. B. J. Clarke. 
