ORDER GERANOMORPHffk
Family EAlLIDiE.
585. E a l l u s c l e r u l e s c e n s , Gm. Caffre Eail.
This Eail has reached us from several different places in the
colony; but it seems to be nowhere plentiful. Mr. Oairncross
has sent it from Swellendam; Mr. Jackson from NeFs Poort; Mr.
Arnot from Colesberg. Mr. Eickard states that it is found near
Port Elizabeth, and is not uncommon in the Swartkops, while
Captain Trevelyan tells us it is by no means rare near Kingwilliams-
town. In the Transvaal Mr. E. A. Barratt observes that it is
considerably abundant, and he has shot them as they flew among
the rushes and reeds bordering the Mooi Eiver. Mr. Ayres
writes:—“ This is the commonest Eail we have in the Transvaal
and a most noisy little fellow, making wonderfully loud and startling
cries for its size. Stomach of one sent contained legs of a crab.”
Mr. Andersson’s work on the Birds of Damara Land contains the
following note :—“ I found this Eail plentiful at Omanbonde ; and it
is not uncommon in marshy localities in Damara Land and the parts
adjacent, more especially in the central and northern portions of the
country; it frequents reedy thickets bordered by other rank aquatic
herbage, amongst which it searches for the insects, worms, and seeds
of water-plants which constitute its food. It runs with great swiftness,
but does not refuse to take wing when pursued.” Senor
Anchieta has met with it at Caconda in Benguela, where it is called
by the natives Xitenguetengue.
Upper parts of head, neck, and body, reddish-brown; the chin,
fore-part of neck and breast, pale slate-colour; the flanks transversely
striped with black and white. Length, 10"; wing, 4 |" ; tail,l".
586. E allus aquaticus, L. European Eail.
Mr. Gurney has recorded the occurrence of this European species
in Natal, and the author has received one specimen from the same
colony from Mr. "Windham. In the fiIbis” for 1868, p. 261, Mr.
Gurney also mentions his having seen a Damara specimen, but the
species is not mentioned in his edition of Andersson’s “ Birds of
Damara Land.” The editor has never seen an example from South
Africa, and is somewhat inclined to doubt the correctness of the
above identifications.
Throat whitish; sides of head, neck, breast, and belly, ashy lead-
colour ; the feathers on the upper parts of the body reddish-brown,
with a deep black mark in the centre of each; flanks black, transversely
rayed with white bars; under tail-coverts white; bill red,
shaded with brown at the tip ; irides orange. Length about 12".
Fig. Dresser, B. Europe, vii. pi. 489.
587. C rex crex (L.). Corn-crake.
A specimen of the Corn-crake was killed on the Cape Flats near
Wynberg, by Mr. H. Dumbleton, in 1864, and Dr. Edwin Atherston
informs us that it was very plentiful in the neighbourhood of Grahams-
town, near the sea-coast, in April, 1869. Mr. Eickard procured one
near East London, and saw several in the month of January. Captain
Trevelyan writes :—“ Eare near Kingwilliamstown ; several were
killed after the rainy weather in the beginning of 1874. I t is
possible that they may be more numerous than is generally supposed,
as not much shooting is done as a rule at the commencement of the
year.” In a letter he says, “ I also saw four Land-rails during the
first months of 1875, and killed three.” Mr. T. E. Buckley shot a
specimen in the Drakensberg, on the 19 th of December. Mr. Ayres
gives the following note on the species in Natal:—“ 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
extremely delicate. Their food consists almost entirely of insects.