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Hixiier & Cohire, Jr

JGould and HC Richie, ded. a ith

PORZANA MARUETTA.
Spotted Crake.

Rallus Porzana, Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. 1. p. 262

aquaticus minor sive maruetta, Bris
Gallinula porzana, Lath.

 

s. Orn., tom.

Vs p. 155; pli. 18. fie
Ind. Orn., vol. ii. p. 779, : ae

» maculata, et punctata, Brehm, Handb,
Porzana maruetta, Vieill.

Zapornia porzana, Gould, Birds of Europe, vol. ix.
Crex porzana, Selby, Ill. Brit. Orn., vol. Hee One 1eOe

Ortygometra porzana, Steph. Cont. of Shaw’s Gen, Zool., vol. xii p. 223

der Naturg. Vog. Deutschl., pp. 696, 698, 699.

pl. 343.

oo

Tue Spotted Crake is the largest as well as the most prettily marked species of the small but well-defined

genus of birds to which the generic name of Porgana has been assigned. In this country it is principally a
summer visitant, arriving in , “| eae : :
ant, ¢ g in March and April, and departing again in September or October. — Its dispersion

over England, Ireland, and Scotland is very general ; but it is much less numerous in the two latter countries

than in the former. In structure it is very similar to the Land-Rail, and it also assimilates very closely to

that species in its skulking habits and general mode of life. It affects sloppy marshy districts rather than
open grassy fields, and is altogether more aquatic than its ally ; hence the fenny districts of Lincolnshire,
Norfolk, Suffolk, and Huntingdonshire are the situations where it is most frequently found ; but that it does
occasionally occur elsewhere is proved by the fact that examples have been killed in every county, from
Cornwall to the most northern parts of England. In a word, it may be found wherever there are rivers and
large ponds with sedgy banks, and in all swampy depressions. In such situations it constructs its nest, and
nurtures its silken-black young in safety ; for the nest, being always placed in the thickest parts of the reeds
and tangled herbage, is most difficult of detection. By far the best account of this part of the bird’s
economy I have yet seen is contained in Mr. Hewitson’s work ‘ On the Eggs of British Birds,’ and this I shall
take the liberty of transcribing :—

“Mr. J. Hancock has a beautiful series of the eggs of this species, obtained by him during a bird-nesting
excursion through the fenny districts of the counties of Cambridge and Huntingdon—some collected on the
borders of Whittlesea Mere, but chiefly in Yaxley Fen ; to him I am indebted for the following information :—
The eggs of the Spotted Crake, as well as those of the Water-Rail, which are met with in exactly similar
situations, are in ordinary seasons very difficult to obtain, the nest being placed in a thick bed of reeds, which
covers a large extent of country, growing to a height of six or seven feet, and therefore not ao penetrated.
St happened that the year had been unusually wet, and that the fen-country had been covered with water, 80
that both these species, which had had their nests swamped, and their eggs and SS destroyed during
the usual breeding-season in the beginning of May, were a second time engaged in incubation at the time
of my visit in July, which was also the season during which the fenmen were mn the ee and unco-
vering the nests of these two species, in the same way that those of the Corn-Crake are ae by ae
down the long grass. Several of the nests of the Spotted Crake, which were not so an “ : ee 0
the Water-Rail, were thus readily obtained. They were placed on the mans iy proud, on a bed of broken
like grass of the reeds, and lined with a finer soft grass, whieh
They contained from seven to ten eggs each, varying
The eggs are represented in Mr. Hewitson’s plate
of reddish brown, some of which are darker

reeds, and were formed of the long ribbon
distinguishes them from those of the allied species. ,
considerably, but always characteristic of the species.
of a buffy stone-colour, blotched all over with irregular patches
and larger than others. a

With respect to the distribution of this bird in other c
the * Zoologist’ for March 1864, a notice from the pen of Mr. or aine on dhe aE en
the year 1863 no less than sixteen individuals were killed or ae Nciaot eae
Mr. Hurd, of Beverley, had certainly shot not less than ten others, and Mr. PM hiss wii:
same neighbourhood, had killed six more, making a total of ee caer
that were only seen ; all that were procured were used for the table, and pr

. 2 in their colouring; neither do the young
d Rail present no very marked difference in their colouring 5 ee
ieee! the Spotted Mar’ pres are sufficiently developed to enable them t

of the year vary materially from the adults after their ae Pactnral, and Africa-—a jourbey ane

perform their autumnal journey across a of the young Land-Rails on a similar

undertaken about the time, or perhaps a little later than the Se aan S ee
g ‘ : | nipping frosts forewarn the bird of the ane acl he donne ee

oe i. te ae Pa : life I have always intended that my illustrations 0

congenial to its habits or .

ounties besides those above mentioned, I find, in
W. W. Boulton, to the effect that during

 

 

 

   

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