cxx 
INTRODUCTION. 
Genus Pohzana. 
;I10. PORZANA MARUETTA Vol. IV. PI. LXXXVIII. 
Spotted Crake. 
Whatever may have been the case formerly, when our fens were the regular nesting-haunts of this and 
many other marsh-loving birds, the Spotted Crake can now oidy be considered a spring and autumn 
migrant, occasionally remaining to breed in favourable situations. 
311. PoRZANA pygm/ea Vol. IV. PI. LXXXIX. 
Baillon’s Crake. 
This little bird has so frequently been met with in England and at almost every season of the year, that 
an enumeration of particular localities for it is unnecessary. It maybe regarded as a local resident. It has, 
however, been only obtained once in Scotland and once in Ireland. 
312. Porzana minuta Vol. IV. PI. XC. 
Olivaceous Crake. 
Almost the same remark will apply to this as to the last-named species, although the seasons at which it 
has been generally met with seem to indicate that it is a spring and autumn migrant. 
ORDER NATATORES. 
In this order Vigors and others have included all the swimming birds — Geese, Swans, the two great 
divisions of the Ducks, Mergansers, Cormorants, Auks, Grebes, Penguins, Divers, Gulls, Terns, and Petrels. 
Their distribution is almost universal, the icy poles being the only part of the globe from which they are 
absent. 
If we institute a comparison between the ornithological productions of the different parts of the earth’s 
surface, we find that water-birds are much more rife in some countries than others, and that they are more 
numerous in the northern than in the southern hemisphere ; and if we compare those frequenting the area of 
the British Islands and the surrounding seas and fresh waters with those frequenting a similar e.xtent of any 
other portion of the globe, we shall find a greater variety of forms than elsewhere, due doubtless to the 
peculiar position of our islands, lying as they do between the two great northern continents, and to a certain 
extent under the influence of the Gulf-stream. 
I now proceed to the enumeration of the species contained in the fifth volume, and commence with the 
Geese, two or three of wliich grace our wolds and marshes. 
