might now and then be blown on to the Coast of Aracan), and the
other entering from the west sweeps over the Punjab, Rajputana,
Sind, Guzerat and the Deccan to about as far south as Mysore.
Doubtless future investigations will show that individual members
of these swarms extend as stragglers to many places whence
none have as yet been recorded ; but I think that in its main
features this hypothesis will prove correct.
Of the northern migration we have direct evidence. On the
24th September the first Yarkand expedition captured a specimen
of this species at the Karatagh Lake on the Karakorum
(elevation 1 6,000 feet), which is in a direct line between the
plains of Yarkand and Le. The bird was clearly a migrant,—a
tired bird that had dropped out of a flight, and that was easily
caught by the hand. The lake lies in perfectly bare shingle, without
a particle of grass or sedge about it, so that only a wearied
traveller would have halted there. Again, on the 21st of
September, some years later, the third Yarkand mission captured
a similar tired migrant, at Toghrasee (elevation 11,265), which
is in the same line and just 52 miles north of the Karatagh.
Of the western migration we only know that three specimens
from Peshawar, Kohat, and Dera Ismail Khan,—the only ones I
have seen from these localities,—were obtained early in October.
Outside our limits, we know that this species is common in
the summer in the marshes of Ydrkand, occurs and breeds in
Eastern Turkestan, is common in Kabul, and has occurred in
Eeluchistan and Persia (indeed is common, De Filippi states, in
spring at Vcramin, south-east of Teheran), and in Asia Minor. It
does not appear to occur in any part of Asia, outside our Empire,
east of Kashgar, and if it has really occurred in Aracan, that
must for the present be considered the easternmost point to
which this species has ever attained.*
It seems to occur all over Europe and Northern Africa, the
great majority being summer migrants to the northern-half and
winter visitants to the southern-half of this vast tract.
THERE ARE few birds that I have ever shot of whose lifehistories
I know less. Unlike the Little and, in a minor degree,
Baillon's Crake, this species is never seen running about on the
leaves of aquatic plants, or indeed, I believe, anywhere in the
open, in this country. Dense rice fields are almost the only
localities in which I have ever found it, but I have known it
also shot out of thick rushes and sedge. I have never seen it,
except when, unexpectedly flushed, it rose just before one with
a heavy laboured flight, its large legs hanging down behind,
to plump down, if not shot at once, within twenty or thirty
yards, never again to be seen, beat and bustle as one might.
* Pallas doubtless seems to intend it to be understood that it occurs in Eastern
Siberia, but later writers do not confirm this, and Taczanowski does not admit it
into his list of the Birds of Eastern Siberia, which is the latest and best Review of
the Avifauna of that region that I have seen.
As a rule I believe that, during the cold season in India, this
species is a very silent bird. Only once have I certainly heard its
note, and that was in April in the Dun.
It is also, I should say, much less gregarious than Baillon's
Crake. I never remember, even when I always had good dogs
with me, putting up more than a pair in the same place, and
far more commonly you only find a single bird.
I have already mentioned that this species arrives in India
towards the end of September. I may add that the great
majority seem to leave Lower Bengal in March, when they
certainly become more numerous in Upper India, and this latter,
before the end of April; but I have known specimens killed
near Delhi on the 1st of May, and in the Dun on the 10th of
that month, and in the valley of the Sutlcj, near Rampur (far
in the interior of the Himalayas), on the 15th, so that they
probably move northwards by easy stages.
It seems just possible that, as in the case of the Grey Quail,
some few birds may remain as accidental stragglers to breed in
this country.
Dresser thus summarizes what is on record of the habits and
haunts of this species in Europe :—
" It frequents swampy localities, where aquatic herbage is
abundant, and where it can find good shelter ; and it is extremely
difficult to force it to take wing when it is in the dense cover of
the reeds, through which it creeps and glides with the greatest
ease. When followed by a dog, it invariably seeks to escape by
running and hiding; and it is only when hard pressed that it
will take wing, to fly only a short distance, and again seek
shelter amongst the reeds.
" It is by no means a shy bird ; and, as a rule, is not afraid
of man, unless it is much disturbed ; and if one moves about
quietly, and when in the vicinity of the bird remains quite
still, it can often be watched without much difficulty. Its callnote
is a clear loud KWEET, which is seldom heard during the
day-time, but most frequently in the evening or at night ; and
Naumann remarks that the note with which the sexes call each
other is low and seldom heard unless everything else is quiet;
and he likens it to a heavy drop falling from a height of
several feet into a vessel of water. This bird feeds on aquatic
insects and insect-larvae, small worms and small snails, as well as
tender shoots of water-herbage and grass-seeds, and usually
seeks its food in shallow water or on moist and swampy ground,
on the edge of ditches, &c, &c."
I KNOW nothing of the nidification of this species, which, so
far as we yet know, does not breed within our limits. Dresser,
following Naumann and others, says :—
" It always selects a wet place for the purpose of nidification ;
and the nest is not unfrequently placed so that the bird can