Genus RALLUS, Linn.
Gen. Char. B e a k slender, longer than the head, slightly arched or straight, compressed at
its base, cylindrical at its point; the upper m andible farrowed. N o s tr ils communicating,
lateral, opened longitudinally in the furrow, partly closed by a membrane. T a rsi long
and strong, naked above the knees. Toes three before and one behind; the anterior ones
divided; the posterior articulated upon the tarsus. W in g s moderate and rounded; the
third and fourth q u ilb fea th e r s longest.
WA T E R RAIL.
R a llu s aquaticus, L in n .
L e R a le d’E a u .
The Water Rail is very generally dispersed over Europe, but abounds principally in the low flat lands of
Holland, France and Germany, where fresh-water morasses, swamps, and rivers afford a congenial and native
habitat; and although never observed in any abundance in the British Islands, the apparent scarcity must be
attributed rather to its cunning and retired habits than to its being really a rare bird. Except when closely
pressed, the Water Rail seldom takes to flight, but evades pursuit by quietly yet quickly traversing the bottoms
o f thick-set reed-beds and banks overgrown with luxuriant vegetation, bordering the sides o f pools and ditches,
where it finds a covert, through which its slender and compressed form enables it to pass with the greatest
facility; besides which it possesses the power o f swimming and diving, both o f which materially aid its
escape. Without denying the possibility o f this bird being migratory, we have the strongest reason to
believe that numbers remain with us during the whole o f the year, frequenting during the summer season fen
land, morasses, ponds, and ditches, about which it incubates ; resorting on the approach o f winter to the sides
o f our large streams and rivers. Its nest is composed o f rushes and vegetable fibres, closely concealed among
herbage, at a little elevation from the w a ter ; its nidification, in fact, closely resembles that o f the Moorhen.
Its eggs are o f a yellowish white colour, marked with spots o f red brown. Its food consists o f worms, snails,
soft insects and their larvae, which abound in swampy places ; vegetable substances also form a part. The
young when first excluded from the egg are covered with black down, and are observed to be in perfect
possession o f the powers o f swimming, and providing for their own safety and subsistence; remaining,
however, under the parent’s care and protection. In a short time their plumage undergoes a change; the
feathers characterizing the species advance through the down, and they then nearly resemble the adult bird,
but are to be distinguished by the breast and under parts being o f a reddish brown, and the markings o f the
flanks more obscure and undefined. The sexes are alike in plumage, but the male is generally the largest.
The throat is whitish; the sides o f the head, neck, breast and belly o f a blueish ash ; the upper surface
brown, the centre o f each feather black; the feathers o f the flanks are barred transversely with clear black
and white; the under tail-coverts. white; the beak red at its base, becoming gradually black towards the tip ;
irides reddish orange; feet and toes light brown.
We have figured an adult bird o f its natural size.