Ornithological Dictionary, under the name ofJLittle Gallinule,
appears to be a female, but the sex was not? noted. The
next specimen, recorded by Montagu, is Mr. Foljambe’s
bird, obtained in' the shop of a London poulterer, in May
1812; this is also figured and described in the Appendix
to his Supplement, and. is considered to be an old male.
This example was received from Norfolk»- About'the same
time Mr. Plasted, of -Chelsea, obtained another which was
shot on the banks of the Thames, -near that place. ^ A t. the
sale of Mr. Plasted’s birds, this specimen passed* into the
possession of Mr. Leadbeater, and is now, I belieVe, in the
collection of Mr. Lombe, who resides near Nonwich^ This
bird, which I saw several times while it belonged, to" Mr.
Leadbeater, agreed with the figure and description, of Montagu’s
Olivaceous Gallinule, and was believed to be an old
male.
An extract from the Minute-book of the Linnean Society,
dated November 4th, 1823, is thus inserted in the fourteenth
volume of the Transactions of that Society,, page 5 3 3 ^ “ In
a letter from W . Fothergill, Esq. ofiCarr-end, near Arkrigg,.
in Yorkshire, it is? stated that the Rallus pmillus of Gmelin,.
Gallinula minulQ. of Montagu, and G. pusilla of Temminck,
was shot on the 6th of May 1807, by John Humphrey, Esq.
of Wensley, on the banks of. the Yore, near that place» , It
was alone, and suffered itself to be approached .Very near,
without betraying any sense of danger. I t ran with great
rapidity, carrying its tail erect.”
In March 1826,. a female of- this species was caught at
Barnwell near Cambridge, whichr is now in the collection.of
Dr. Thackeray, the Provost of King’s College; and the
figiire of the bird in the front of the illustration here given,
as also the description, were taken, from this bird, which was:
most kindly lent me for my use in this work.
In the volume of the Magazine of Natural History for the
year 1829,» page s < 2 7 it is mentioned that Mr. James Hall
caught a specimen of the Olivaceous Gallinule, G. pusilla,
alive in a drain in Atdwick meadows, near Manchester, in
the autumn of 1807** In ,th e same work, -but for the year
,1834, p a g e rs ,th e late Mr. Hoy has recorded that a Little
Gallinule was ishot- near Yarmouth*. Mr. W . Borrer, jun.
zsent me notice-that* a< Little Crake, Crex pusilla, was taken
aliVe .on the banks of the Adur, at Beeding chalk-pit near
Shoreham, in October-183&; and in 1836 Mr. W . C. Williamson
4 efóMed,.iih the printed Proceedings of the Zoological.
Society,;|-t]aat an Olivapeous Gallinule had been killed
near Scarborough.
Other .examples have no doubt, been killed in various parts
#jf' England, but it must be Considered a rare bird, and, perhaps,
is not always clearly distinguished-front the species next
to J|e described; lit its food and general habits this Olivaceous
Crake very t-doielyi-éésembles »tie Spotted and other
Crakes, but Ms occasionsSl'ly^seen on the higher and more cultivated^.
Montagu truly < observes,' that the habits of
the smaller species of ■ Gallinules are. their principal security;
they are not only equally capable’ of diving and concealing
their bodies under water, with .only thé bill above the surface
%> secure respiration,; hut run with celerity and hide themselves
amongst the rushes and flags of swampy places, and
are with great difficulty roused even with the assistance of
dogs, depending more' on concealment in thick cover, than
upon their, wings, to avoid danger. From these circumstances
dt is, that they are so rarely obtained. This bird
forms a nest of aquatic'plants among rushes, laying seven or
eight eggs of a light olive-brown colour, spotted with darkei
brown; the length one inch two lines, by nine lines and a
half in breadth ; the form of the egg oval.
M. Temminck says this species is only found accidentally
in Holland, but is more common in Germany and in France,