RALLUS, Lill. &C. RAIL.
Bill longer titan the head, slender, slightly arched, or straight, compressed at the base, cylindrical at the tip, upper mandible channelled ; nostrils lateral, longitudinal, cleft in the furrow, half-closed by a membrane ; legs long and stout, with a small naked space above the knees, the three anterior toes divided, the posterior articulated to the tarsus ; wings of moderate dimensions and rounded.
The body of these birds is compressed, and much loaded with fat ; they run more than they fly ; and they frequently elude their enemies by swimming over waters of inconsiderable breadth. Their chief residence is in the immediate neighbourhood of fresh waters, overgrown with herbage and shrubs ; and their food principally consists of worms, insects that have no wing-cases, slugs, vegeta bles, and seeds. They arc observed to regulate their migrations so as to avoid countries in which the soil is either bound up in frost, or parched with long and intense heat. They walk erect, run with great rapidity, conceal themselves in the herbage during the day, and come forth to feed in the morning and evening. Although habituated to the same description of soil, they do not live in flocks, but separately. They sometimes perch on the low branches of shrubs or bushes, but never on those of trees, unless pursued by some carnivorous quadruped. During flight, their legs hang down.
R. aquaticus, Lin. Re. Water Rail, Brook Ouzel, Bill cock, Oar-cock, Skiddy-cock, Velvet-runizer, ke. Wings grey, spotted with brown ; flanks spotted with white; bill orange beneath. Length from nine to tell inches ; extent of wing from fourteen to sixteen inches, and weight about four ounces. The bastard wing is armed with a spine,
about an eighth of an inch in length. Inhabits watery places in Europe and Asia ; and, though reputed migra tory, certainly breeds with us. Perhaps it is partially migratory in most countries. The nest is made of sedges and coarse grass, among the thickest aquatic plants, or in willow beds ; and, consequently, is not often found. It contains from six to ten eggs, which are either of a smooth spotless white, or yellowish and marked with brown-red spots, their colour probably varying at different stages of incubation. They are rather larger than those of a black bird, and of a short oval form, with both ends nearly alike. By many this bird is erroneously believed to be the land rail, metamorphosed in autumn, whereas the latter leaves us at that season, and the difference of the bills alone con stitutes an essential distinction. The water rail is very shy and wily, secreting itself among the rankest grass, on the margins of pools and rivulets. It runs nimbly, and, even when pursued by clogs, seldom takes wing, until its rapid and complicated evolutions among the reeds have failed to insure its protection. It flies slowly, with its legs hanging down, and generally alights at no great dis tance from the spot where it first arose. When running, it flirts up its tail and exposes the white of the under tail coverts. It wades in the water, swims, and occasionally dives, or runs along the broad leaves of the water lily. Though killed for the table in France, ke. its flesh has a muddy flavour.