RAIL, Rallus, a genus of birds of the order graller, and family having a slender bill, longer than the head, the body of a very compressed form, wings of very moderate length, a very short tail, long and strong legs, and long toes. The only European species is the COM3ION RAIL or WATER RAIL (I?. aguaticus), sometimes called ban)ek, a bird which occurs in almost all parts of Britain, and is not 'Infrequent in marshy situations and the reedy margins of lakes and rivers, although it often eludes observation, threading its way among reeds—for which its compressed form seems specially adapted—and diving when compelled to betake itself to open water. It does not rise, except in extreme necessity; and when flushed, flies heavily. It is more plenti ful in most parts of .the continent than in Britain; and is there generally a bird of pass age, breeding in the north, and migrating southward on the approach of winter. It makes its nest of coarse grass and sedges among thick aquatic plants. The whole length of the bird is about eleven inches and a half. The sexes are very similar in plumage, olive-brown. marked with black above; bluish-ash color beneath, with white transverse markings on the belly. The water-rail feeds on worms, mollusks, and soft vegetable
substances. It is in the highest esteem for the table.—America produces a number of species of rail. as the VIRGINIAN RAIL (I?. Virginianus), a species rather smaller than the water-rail of Europe, and much resembling it in its habits; a bird of passage, and in many parts of North America very abundant; the GREAT RED-BREASTED RAIL, or FRESH-WATER MARSH HEN (R. clegans), a much larger bird, fully 20 in. in length, inhabiting the extensive marshes of the southern states of North America; the CLAPPER RAIL, or SALT-WATER MARSh HEN (I?. crepitans), extremely abundant in the salt. marshes of the same regions, its whole length about 15 in.; all of which are much esteemed fon the table, the eggs of the clapper-rail being also collected in great-numbers as a delicacy. The name clapper-rail is from the cackling cry which the bird seems to delight in emitting.—The MANGROVE HEN (1?. longirostris) abounds on the muddy shores of the West Indies, and its flesh is held in the highest esteem.—In general forum, and in the character of their plumage, all these and other species are very similar.