fresh eggs ; and he has seen the young in their black down
taken on Rockland Broad in the last week in July. By
the. latter part of October, the majority have taken their
departure for the South, but stragglers are occasionally met
with throughout November and even' into. December i the
marshmen assuring Mr. Stevenson that examples-are sometimes
found in midwinter. The birds observed thus late in
the year being almost invariably in immature plumage, they
are probably late broods which have been unable to join, the
earlier migrants.* Similar instances are on record from
other places; ■ one of the latest being, perhaps, the specimen
recorded by Mr, Blyth as seen by himself in theXondon
market in the month of January, 1834,
In England the Spotted , Crake, is ' more frequently
observed in the maritime counties of the south and east
coasts, especially in the latter, which still contain fens, and
“ broads ” suitable.to its.requirements. Before the drainage
of the fens it was not, uncommon in Cambridge .and
Huntingdonshire', but at the present day its' numbers/are
greatly diminished, even in Norfolk, owing'to the reclamation
of the marshes. Although local, it is said. .byjyMr.
Cordeaux to be not uncommon i ^ some parts of the Humber
district, and also ,of the Trent; and ft is not' rare in
Yorkshire," especially in winter-: a few * nesting-'regularly
on the sedgy banks Af^tbe Hull heai>;’ Beverley,,a and' at'
times, near Yorjh* and Doncaster,Ï » N(gjvifMtandibg^the
drainage of Prestwick Car, Mr. Hancock records af.. asj-stjfl
breeding bccasionallyam .Durham’ and , Northumberland.
On the western side it appears to?i be very local, 'bi^^éteral
pairs breed in' the-bbgsftof Breconshire;'.(E; (CL Phillips;
dltobl. 1882,'p .’21i)j and .from W'alesffdt ranges »■; up to
Cumberland. On the-.eastern-side* of>.Scotland«# has been
frequently' obtained as far north as^Elgiby where -the; nest
has »been taken, as well as lip Aberdeen'and Perthshire, so
that it doubtless breeds sporadically in the .more*.’southern
ebuntiës ; l button the west it has pot/as^fpt »been ^recorded
* Birds of Norfolk,
# Clarke, Jlapelfck. Yorkshire,yértebrates, p. 65,"
beyond the Eirth of Clyde; la the Orkney Islands, according
to Messrs. Baikie. and Heddle, it has been observed,
though rarely, on Sanda; and quite „recently it 'has' been
recorded from the Shetland« %882, p, 2 1® In
Ireland it appears to». ber,jm occasional summer visitant,
probably more common than is supposed: nests haying
been found in Roscommon, and a nestling in Kerry.
-Although the Spotted Crake has twice.been obtained in
Greenland,* it has not as;yet„-hee-n recorded from Iceland,
or the; -Faeroes. It -’breeds sparingly in the' southern - districts
of Scandinavia and of ^Finland, 'and. Messrs: Alston
and Harvie-Brown |obtained both adults and young-near
Archangel. Throughout Russia, Poland, Germany, Denmark,
Holland, and Belgium, it is abundant in suitable
localities during tbe^aummer months^ visiting Heligoland
on both migrations, although more “-abundantly in that of
Mayf /Numerous $$ tbe marshy listrictsloh France,..espec-
iahy those of-'Grenoble, the-Gamai>gue,and thfer Landes,#/
visits Switzerland, principally, on migration, and breeds ifr
the -swampy, districts of Italy'-and Sieily.v^Tn. the Spanish
Peninsula®! chiefly occurs.» on migration&er in wintjy^ but
ip the other countries b.orderihg «on the Mediterranean it -is
in a great measure a- resident. In Southern Germany, and
Southern Russia as far as th.e Caucasus,'it-is .not uncommon.
It has-'Keen obtained in the Canary Islands, and it appears
to be a resident, or a winter visitant along the whole- line of
Northern Africa as far south as Abyssinia, beyond which it
has not yet#een i-ecordedE :
' It . Winters bin Asia Minor, and' breeds'! occasionally in
Turkestan, crossing the Karakoram range at an elevation of
1.16,000 feet,» where/©r; Hendersou obtained# in September
on its passage- southwards# India ; and Dr.-Scully, found
that a few .-pairs bred- abeuf rGilgit';(Ibfe,„'l'881, p. 590). n In
Eastern Siberia, China* or Japan it-has nut been discovered
by-recent travellers* ‘ ^ 1
Compared with the Land Rail, the Spotted. Rail is much
less nuffi&ious as a species, and more aquaffc in its habits ;
* Reinhardt, ‘Ib is/ l& lfN ? # 2:
VOL. Ijl. m