END ROD Cron

Genus Porzana.

Vol. IV. Pl, LOXoxvaie

310. PorzANA MARUETTA  . 5 : ; : ; : :

Sporrep Crake.

Whatever may have been the case formerly, when our fens were the regular nesting-haunts of this and
many other marsh-loving birds, the Spotted Crake can now only te considered a spring and autumn

migrant, occasionally remaining to breed in favourable situations.

Vol. IV. Pl: Ixexexxe

311. Porzana PYGMmA . ; : : : : : : : : :
Baituon’s Crake.

This little bird has so frequently been met with in England and at almost every season of the year, that

an enumeration of particular localities for it is unnecessary. It may be regarded as a local resident. It has,

however, been only obtained once in Scotland and once in Ireland.

Vol. IV. Pl. XC.

312. Porzana MINUTA . : . .
Ouivaceous Crake.
Almost the same remark will apply to this as to the last-named species, although the seasons at which it

has been generally met with seem to indicate that it is a spring and autumn migrant.

ORDER NATATORES.

In this order Vigors and others have included all the swimming birds—Geese, Swans, the two great
divisions of the Ducks, Mergansers, Cormorants, Auks, Grebes, Penguins, Divers, Gulls, Terns, and Petrels.
my

Their distribution is almost universal, the icy poles being the only part of the globe from which they are

absent.

If we institute a comparison between the ornithological productions of the different parts of the earth’s
surface, we find that water-birds are much more rife in some countries than others, and that they are more
numerous in the northern than in the southern hemisphere; and if we compare those frequenting the area of
the British Islands and the surrounding seas and fresh waters with those frequenting a similar extent of any
other portion of the globe, we shall find a greater variety of forms than elsewhere, due doubtless to the
peculiar position of our islands, lying as they do between the two great northern continents, and to a certain

extent under the influence of the Gulf-stream.

I now proceed to the enumeration of the species contained in the fifth volume, and commence with the

Geese, two or three of which grace our wolds and marshes.