baillon's crake or rail. 
321 
positive statement can be offered on tlie subject. They are 
perhaps about equally plentiful as in England and Scotland."^ 
The spotted rail appears to be scarce everywhere ; its distribu- 
tion is much the same as that of the land-rail; extending in 
summer as far north in Europe as Scandinavia. It winters in 
the north of Africa, &c. 
BAILLON^S CRAKE OR RAIL. 
Crex Bailloni, Vieill. (sp.) 
Rallus ,j „ 
Gallinula „ Temm. 
Has been once obtained ; 
According to Dr. Harvey, of Cork, on whose authority I re- 
corded it in the ^Annals of Natural History^ for September 
1847 (vol. XX. p. 169). The specimen was procured in a bog 
at Clay Castle, near Youghal, on October 30, 1845, where a 
spotted rail had been shot in October 1843, and another has 
been killed since. The fact of this bird^s appearance in the 
same locality suggests the question. Could its young have been 
mistaken for C. Bailloni ? but the individual in question is 
considered to be undoubtedly the latter, by two acute ornitholo- 
gists. The one, Mr. R. Davis, jun., of Clonmel, judged, indeed, 
only from the description supplied by its possessor (Mr. S. Moss, 
of Youghal), but that was considered sufficient for him to an- 
nounce the species to me as certain. The specimen was kindly 
sent to Cork for Dr. Harvey's examination, but being in a 
closed glass case he was unable to take the measurements.f 
He remarks: — Along with it, however, was a spotted crake 
for comparison, about half the size of which the other appeared 
* A sporting friend shot a spotted rail some years ago in tlie autumn on Ms moor, 
near Ballantrae, Ayrshire. 
t Mr. Moss, who preserved it, noted the length as 7 inches ; wdngs expanded 101 - 
inches ; weight 1 ounce. 
VOL. II. 
Y 
