22S 
Allen’s naturalist’s library. 
the face more mottled, the breast and throat apparently never 
so uniform grey as in the male. 
Adult in Summer Plumagpe. — Very similar to the winter plum- 
age, but not so distinctly varied with white above ; the white 
dots also absent for the most part on the eyebrow, sides of 
neck, throat, and breast, which are almost uniformly grey the 
latter slightly washed with brown. 
Young'.— Easily distinguished from the adults by its white 
throat and more profusely spotted appearance. The streaks on 
the back are also very distinct, as a rule. The adult plumage 
appears to me to be gained without a moult, the grey colour 
being gradually assumed as the spring advances ; but I have 
not had a sufficient series to determine accurately the various 
phases through which the species passes. The young bird has 
the brown of the head continued to the base of the forehead. 
Range In .Great Britain. — The Spotted Crake, like so many 
marsh-haunting birds, is rarer than it used to be before the 
draining of the fen-lands. It is a summer visitor, nesting in 
several of the southern counties of England, as well as in the 
eastern counties as far north as Durham and Northumberland. 
On the east side of Scotland, says Mr. Saunders, it has nested 
as far north as Elgin, while cn migration it has occurred in the 
Orkneys, and twice in the Shetlands (in October) ; on the west 
it has bled in Dumbarton.shire, but has not yet been recorded 
north of the Clyde. Mr. Ussher states that three eggs of this 
species taken in Roscommon are in the Science and Art Museum 
in Dublin ; and he says that, “ though no other instance of the 
nest having been taken in Ireland has been recorded, the 
Spotted Crake probably breeds occasionally, for Mr. 
Barton met with the .species in Louth, in August. A pair were 
shot in Queens County by Mr. T. Trench, in August, 1880, 
and another pair in Fermanagh, by Mr. George Husbands, in 
the summer or early autumn of 1890. Thompson noted a 
young bird obtained in August by Mr. Chute, in Kerry, which 
exhibited remains of down.” 
Range outside the British Islands. — The present species nests 
throughout the greater part of Europe, up to about 65° N. Lat. 
