SPOTTED CRAKE. 
335 
it for twenty minutes before a dbg, previous to its 
taking wing ; and it will often creep into some bole 
or matted parcel of grass, rather than rise a second 
time. We have also seen specimens taken near 
Edinburgh, and Mr. Yarrell gives a notice of one 
shot in Forfarshire, in October, 1832. We do 
not, however, know its range in a northern direc- 
tion. The nest is described as found in the vicinity 
of its haunts, near the water, and to be constructed 
of the dead parts of the reeds and grasses. The 
eggs are numerous, pale reddish white, spotted with 
dark reddish-brown. On the continent it occurs in 
abundance or scarcity, according to circumstances. 
In the vicinity of Smyrna it was found by Mr. 
Strickland.* We have not seen or traced it to other 
extra European localities. 
A specimen shot at Jardine Hall, in the month 
of July, has the head, back, and rump, clear hair- 
brown, approaching nearly to black ; on the crown 
the feathers are edged with yellowish-brown; on the 
back and rump broadly with oil-green, the margins 
with irregular white spots; on the lower part of 
the back and wings, where the apparent colour is 
nearly wholly oil-green, they are marked with white 
lines, being both surrounded with a narrow border of 
black ; the long tertials, nearly equalling the quills 
in length, are crossed by irregular diagonal white 
bars, surrounded by a broad shade of black ; quills 
hair-brown, tinted with oil-green ; above the eyes, 
the sides and front of the neck, greyish oil-green, 
* Yarrell. 
