In addition to the above, Mr, Stevenson (B. of Norfolk, ii.
pp. 896-399), cites no less than twelve, authenticated occurrences
in the county of Norfolk alone .; most of them killed in
March, April, and May; one in August.; and one seen, hut not
obtained, in October. Since then another has jbeen obtained
in the second week of November, 1882 (Zool. 1882, p. 374).
He argues that, judging from the fact that so many specimens
have actually been obtained of a bird whose skulking
habits and small size renders it so difficult o£:.observation,
the Little Crake can hardly be considered as merely an accidental
visitor ; and he considers that both this species, and
Bâillon’s Crake, may fairly be classed with the birds of
passage which, for a time at least, periodically frequent our
marshes. In Lincolnshire, again, Mr. Cordeaux states that,
he flushed one in October, 1870 ; and the bird is probably,
as Mr. btevenson suggests, a far more regular visitor than
is generally supposed.
The authority for. the solitary occurrence of tkßj little
Crake in Scotland is Mr. Thomas Edward, of Banff, rjwho
states (Zool. p. 6968) that a,specimen was found dead i t
Thornton, on the banks of the Isla, in^March, 1852. From
Ireland, Canon Tristram (Zool, p. 4298) received a spécimen
in the flesh, shot at Balbriggan, ;on the 11th March, 1854;
and, hlfrè recently, Sir B. Payne-Gallwby records a^s-pCjbfcien
obtained by Mr.-Reeves, shot at Capard, Queen’s County, in
April, 1871* / Ï;
Other examples have, no doubt, been -käfecLin various
parts of Engip.nd^ but 4>t -must be consideredja~:rSomqWlifl,t
rare bird, AnjJfs-perhaps, is not always clearly distinguished
from the- species next to be described.f
The Little Crake has occurred in/the} south of t Sweden,
and was evep-found breeding there on the 17th June, 1862,; %
but it is more common in Denmark. Ip Northern Germany
it has been ascertained’ to breed in Holstein, Mecklenburg,
* ‘ The.Fo.wler in jiielaaj; •
~T For instance, a bird recorded äs a Little "Or^e Iby Oapt. W. H .-'H a ^ ^ i
(Zool.,^j|§âO), as shot by him near Ramsey,^Me of Man, in IS iîj is 'BI1bse-
quently referred by trim to Baillon’s Crake (Zool. -ça.
Î Westerland, Petermann’s Mittheilungen, PS.Tjg? p.’37'4 -,
Pomerania; and, continuing along the Baltic, in Courland
and in Livonia; also, according to Sabanaeff, in the Riazan
Government in Central Russia. Elsewhere between, these
lines it is principally known as a migrant. Its best known
breeding quarters appear to be to the southward^ in Wur-
temberg, Bavaria, Bohemia, Silesia, and SMact throughout
the Austro-Hungarian Empire, where the localities are suitable.
On Heligoland it has once occurred on the spring
migration; it is a rare visitant to Holland and Belgium;
and its appearances are irregular in the north of France,
whilst in the south, and especially about Grenoble, and the
Bouches du Rhone, 4t-breeds in some numbers. In Spain
it has not yet heen proved to nest, b4t it occurs in tolerable
abundance in the neighbourhood of Valencia, Murcia, and
Malaga; on the spring migration -at the two former, and
on the autumn passage at the- latter. An occasional
breeder in 'Savoy and Switzerland;-it nests in Italy down
to Sicily, but in the islands and on the coasts of the
Mediterranean it mainly occurs on passage, and it appears
to winter in Greece. Seldom observed in Turkey, it breeds
plentifully, mP^huth1 Russia, and is not-uncommon in the
Caucasus; eastward it occurs in Armenia, Turkestan, and
as far as the broads« or ‘ dhunds ’ 6f Sind, to- the west of
the Indus,'beyond which Mr. Hume thinks that its place is
taken by Bakon’s Crake. He was assured by-his boatmen
that the Little Crake bred in Sind, but he considers that
this-requires confirmation* The species recorded under
this name by Mr. Hodgson, ^ f o u n d in Nepaul, and by
Temminck, from Japan, appears ttfbe Baillon’s Crake, and
up to the present* the most eastern- authenticated locality
for the Little Crake is'G$lgiV where Dr. Scully obtained
three examples--on passage between 5th October and 2nd
November, f
In Africa it Is not as yet recorded'from Morocco, but-
Loche says' that it is resident in Algeria, and recently Mr.
Dixon shot a specimen from a small pool at Biskra, where it
* Game Bird's of India, ii. p. 20l).
Ibis-,, 1S®1, p..‘S&0r '