331 
from the Colony of Natal. 
different times on a small stream about ten miles from the coast ; 
their stomachs were crammed with locusts, grasshoppers, and 
other insects. 
On being disturbed, they fly but a few yards, and then alight 
again. 
[The differences between this species and its near ally, Ardetta 
minuta } which also occurs at Natal, are well defined in Dr. Hart- 
laub*s work on the Ornithology of Madagascar, p. 75.—J. H. G.] 
217. Crex pratensis (Bechst.). Corn-Crake. 
Male and female . Iris light greyish brown; bill pale, darker 
on the ridge; tarsi and feet dusky pale; nostrils linear. 
These birds are scarce on the coast, but become more plentiful 
inland. They are only found here during the summer months. 
Having been once flushed, it is a difficult matter to put them up 
a second time out of the long grass; for, besides running with 
great swiftness, they have a curious method of evading the dogs 
by leaping with closed wings and compressed feathers over the 
long grass some three or four yards, and then, running a short 
distance, they leap again. The scent being thus broken, they 
generally evade the most keen-scented dogs; and so quickly are 
these strange leaps made, that it is only by mere chance that 
the birds are seen. 
The flesh of these birds is exceedingly delicate. Their food 
consists almost entirely of insects. Their flight is weak, and 
seldom sustained for more than fifty yards. 
[The Corn-Crakes sent by Mr. Ayres appear to be identical 
with English specimens.—J. H. G.] 
The following additional notes have been communicated to 
me by Mr. Ayres respecting two of the species previously 
enumerated. 
Spizaetus coronatus (Linn.). Crowned Eagle. 
I very nearly shot a fine specimen of Spizaetus coronatus a 
short time since. Early one morning it made a dash at one of 
my hen Turkeys, and very nearly succeeded in catching it; but 
the Turkey saw the Eagle just in time to slip from under him, 
and got away with the loss only of the whole of the tail and 
the greater portion of the rump-feathers, which remained in the 
