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languages. With comparatively few individual exceptions, the land-rail is essentially migratory. It is the Ortygometra of classical authors—supposed by them to See also:

lead the See also:

QUAIL (0. Fr. Quaille, Mod. Fr. Caille, Ital. Quaglia, Low Lat. Quaquila, Du. Kwakkel and Kwartel, Ger. Wachtel, Dan. Vagtel)

quail (q.v.) on its voyages—and in the course of its wanderings has now been known to reach the See also:

COAST (from Lat. costa, a rib, side)

coast of See also:

GREENLAND (Danish, &c., Gronland)

Greenland, and several times that of See also:

North See also:

AMERICA

America, to say nothing of Bermuda, in every instancewe may believe as a straggler from See also:

EUROPE

Europe or See also:

BARBARY

Barbary. The land-rail looks about as big as a See also:

partridge, but on examination its See also:

APPEARANCE (from Lat. apparere, to appear)

appearance is found to be very deceptive, and it will hardly ever weigh more than See also:

HALF

half as much. The plumage above is of a tawny See also:

brown, the feathers being longitudinally streaked with blackish brown; beneath it is of a yellowish See also:

white; but the flanks are of a See also:

LIGHT

light See also:

CHESTNUT (nux Castanea)

chestnut barred with white.

The species is very locally distributed, and in a way for which there is at See also:

PRESENT

present no accounting. In some dry upland and corn-growing districts it is plentiful; in others, of apparently the same See also:

CHARACTER (Gr. xapareri7p, from xap&crew, to scratch)

character, it but rarely occurs; and the same may be said in regard to low-lying marshy meadows, in most of which it is in See also:

SEASON (0. Fr. seson, seison, mod. saison, Lat. satio, sowing time, the spring, from serere, to sow; in Late Lat. the word is found with its present meaning, the spring being considered as particularly the season of the year)

season always to be heard, while in others having a See also:

close resemblance to them it is never met with. The See also:

NEST

nest is on the ground, generally in See also:

long grass, and therein from nine to eleven eggs are commonly laid. These are of a cream-See also:

COLOUR (Lat. color, connected with celare, to hide, the root meaning, therefore, being that of a covering)

colour, spotted and blotched with light red and See also:

grey. The See also:

young when hatched are thickly clothed with See also:

black down, as is the See also:

case in nearly all species of the family. The water-rail, locally known as the skiddy or billcock, is the Rallus aquaticus of See also:

ORNITHOLOGY

ornithology, and seems to be less abundant than the preceding, though that is in some measure due to its frequenting places into which from their swampy nature men do not often intrude. Having a See also:

general resemblance to the land-rail,' it can be in a moment distinguished by its partly red and much longer See also:

BILL

bill, and the darker coloration of its plumage—the upper parts being of an See also:

OLIVE (Olea europaea)

olive brown with black streaks, the See also:

BREAST (a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. the Ger. Brust, possibly connected with an O. Sax. brustian, to bud)

breast and belly of a sooty grey, and the flanks dull black barred with white. Its See also:

GEOGRAPHICAL

geographical See also:

DISTRIBUTION (Lat. distribuere, to deal out)

distribution is very wide, extending from See also:

ICELAND (Dan. Island)

Iceland (where it is said to preserve its existence during See also:

winter by resorting to the hot springs) to See also:

CHINA

China; and though it inhabits See also:

NORTHERN

Northern See also:

India, See also:

LOWER

Lower See also:

EGYPT

Egypt and Barbary, it seems not to pass beyond the tropical See also:

LINE

line. It never affects upland districts as does the land-rail, but always haunts wet marshes or the close vicinity of water. Its love-See also:

note is a loud and harsh cry, not continually repeated as is that of the land-rail, but uttered at considerable intervals and so suddenly as to have been termed " explosive." Besides this, which is See also:

PECULIAR

peculiar to the See also:

COCK, EDWARD (1805-1892)

cock-See also:

BIRD

bird, it has a croaking See also:

CALL (from Anglo-Saxon ceallian, a common Teutonic word, cf. Dutch kallen, to talk or chatter)

call that is See also:

FROG

frog-like. The eggs resemble those of the preceding, but are more brightly and delicately tinted. The various species of rails, whether allied to the former or latter of those just mentioned, are far too numerous to be here noticed.

Hardly any See also:

PART

part of the See also:

WORLD

world is without a representative of the genera Crex or Rallus, and every considerable See also:

COUNTRY (from the Mid. Eng. contre or contrie, and O. Fr. cuntree; Late Lat. contrata, showing the derivation from contra, opposite, over against, thus the tract of land which fronts the sight, cf. Ger. Gegend, neighbourhood)

country has one or perhaps more of each though it has been the See also:

HABIT (through the French from Lat. habitus, from habere, to have, hold, or, in a reflective sense, to be in a certain condition; in many of the English senses the French use habitude, not habit)

habit of systematists to refer them to many other genera, the characters of which are with difficulty found. Thus in Europe alone three other species allied to Crex pratensis occur more or less abundantly; but one of them, the spotted rail or crake, has been made the type of a so-called genus Porzana, and the other two, little birds not much bigger than larks, are considered to See also:

FORM (Lat. forma)

form a genus Zapornia. The first of these, which used not to be uncommon in the eastern part of See also:

England, has a very near representative in the Carolina rail or See also:

SORA

sora, Crex caroling, of North America, often there miscalled the See also:

ortolan, just as its See also:

EUROPEAN

European analogue, C. porzana, is in England often termed the dotterel. But, passing over these as well as some belonging to genera that can be much better defined, and other still, more interesting forms of the family, as Aphanapteryx, See also:

COOT

coot (q.v.), See also:

MOOR

moor-hen (q.v.) and See also:

OCYDROME

ocydrome (q.v.), a few words must he said of the more distant See also:

GROUP

group formed by the See also:

South See also:

AMERICAN

American Heliornis, and the See also:

AFRICAN

African and See also:

INDIAN

Indian Podica, comprising four or five species, to which the name " Finfoots " has been applied—from the lobes or flaps of skin that fringe their toes. Though for a long while placed among the Podicipedidae (see See also:

GREBE (Fr. grebe)

GREBE), their See also:

OSTEOLOGY (Gr. ovTeov, bone)

osteology no less than their habits appear to indicate their See also:

ALLIANCE

alliance with the rails, and they are placed as a See also:

SEPARATE

separate family, Heliornithidae of the See also:

order Gruiformes, to which the rails belong; but they seem to show the extreme modification of that type in See also:

ADAPTATION (from Lat. adaptare. to fit to)

adaptation to aquatic See also:

LIFE

life. The curious genus Mesites of See also:

MADAGASCAR

Madagascar, whose systematic See also:

PLACE (through Fr. from Lat. platea, street; Gr. IrAar6s, wide)

place has been so long in doubt, has been referred by A. Milne-See also:

Edwards (See also:

Ann. Sc. Naturelle, See also:

ser. 6, vii. See also:

art. 2) to the neighbourhood of the rails, but is now associated as a sub-order Mesitae with Galliform birds. On the other See also:

hand the jacanas or Parridae, which from their long toes were once thought to belong ' Formerly it seems to have been a popular belief in England that the land-rail in autumn transformed itself into a water-rail, resuming its own characters in See also:

SPRING (from " to spring," " to leap or jump up," " burst out," O. Eng., springau, a common Teut. word, cf. Ger. springer, possibly allied to Gr. QnrFpxecOac, to move rapidly)

spring.

to the rails, are now generally admitted to be Limicoline, while the genus Aramus—the courlan or limpkin of the See also:

SOUTHERN

southern See also:

UNITED

United States—still occupies a very undetermined position. (A. N.) (2) (Through O.Fr. reille, from Lat. See also:

REGULA

regula, a See also:

RULE

rule; the Du. and Swed. regel, Ger. Riegel, See also:

BOLT

bolt or See also:

bar, are probably also from the Latin), a See also:

HORIZONTAL

horizontal bar of See also:

wood, See also:

metal or other material resting on, or fixed in, upright posts to form a fence, or as a support for See also:

HANGING

hanging things on, to form the " hand-rail " of a See also:

stair, &c.; on a See also:

SHIP

ship the upper part of the bulwarks, e.g. the " taffrail," See also:

ROUND (O. Fr. rond, Lat. rotundus, the Fr. is the source also of Du. rond; Ger., Swed., Dan. and Nor. rond)

round the stern bulwarks; especially, one of the pair of See also:

IRON [symbol Fe, atomic weight 55.85 (0=16)]

iron or See also:

STEEL, FLORA ANNIE (1847– )

steel bars on which a See also:

TRAIN (M. Eng. trayn or trayne, derived through Fr. from Late Lat. trahinare, to drag, draw, Lat. trahere, cf. trail, trace, ultimately from the same source)

train or tram runs (see See also:

RAILWAYS

RAILWAYS). There are two other words " rail ": (a) an obsolete word (O.E. hragel), for a garment; often in the See also:

compound " See also:

NIGHT

night-rail "; and (b) a verb, to abuse, use angry See also:

LANGUAGE (adapted from the Fr. langage, from langue, tongue, Lat. lingua)

language, from Fr. railler, possibly from the same See also:

root as Lat. radere, to scrape. The word is also seen in " rally," to banter, tease (distinguish, however, " rally," to bring together, especially of defeated troops (from Fr. rallier; re, again, and See also:

allier, ally, Lat. alligare)).

End of Article: RAIL

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