ve some doubt as to the propriety of including the
Spotted Crake in my list, but, on the whole, such evidence as I have
been able to collect seems in favour of its being at all events
occasionally seen and shot, though its small size and shy skulking
habits keep it very much from general notice. Mr. MacCulloch, however,
writes to me to say the Spotted Rail has been found here; and one of Mr.
De Putron's labourers described a Rail to me which he had shot in the
Vale Pond in May, 1877, which, from his description, could have been
nothing but a Spotted Rail.

This is all the information I have been able to glean, but Professor
Ansted includes it in his list, and marks it as occurring in Guernsey.
There are also two pretty good specimens in the Museum, which I have no
doubt were killed in Guernsey.

97. LANDRAIL. _Crex pratensis_, Bechstein. French, "Rale des pres,"
"Rale de terre" ou "de Genet," "Poule d'eau de genet."--The Landrail is
a common summer visitant, breeding certainly in Guernsey, Sark, and
Alderney,[16] and probably in Herm, though I cannot be quite so sure
about the latter Island. It seems to be rather more numerous in some
years than others, as occasionally I have heard them craking in almost
every field. But the last summer I was in the Islands (1878) I heard
very few. The Corn Crake arrives and departs much about the same time as
in England, and I have never been able to find that any stay on into the
winter, or even as late as November.

It is included in Professor Ansted's list, but only marked as occurring
in Guernsey and Sark. There are two specimens in the Museum.

98. MOORHEN. _Gallinula chloropus_, Linnaeus. French, "Poule d'eau
ordinaire."--I have not seen the Moorhen myself in Guernsey, but Mr.
Couch, writing to me in December, 1876, told me that Mr. De Putron
informed him that Coots, Waterhens, and Little Grebes bred that year in
the Braye Pond; and Mr. De Putron, to whom I wrote on the subject, said
the information I had received was perfectly correct. I see no reason to
doubt the fact of the Moorhen occasionally breeding in Mr. De Putron's
pond, and perhaps in other places in the Island, especially the Grand
Mare. But I do not believe they breed regularly in either place; they
certainly did not in this last summer (1878), or I must have seen or
heard them. As far as Mr. De Putron's pond is concerned, I could not
have helped hearing their loud call or alarm note had only one pair been
br