RALLID.E. 481 



FAMILY V. 



Ealltd^. The Rails. 



Gen. Chabac— Bill more or less long, with the culmen sometimes advancing 

 on the forehead, but always curved at the apex, and the sides compressed, 

 the gonys usually ascending ; the nostrils lateral, and placed in a mem- 

 branous groove ; the wings moderate and generally rounded ; the tail more 

 or less long and rounded ; the tarsi long and rather slender ; the toes mostly 

 lengthened and slender; the claws short, compressed, and acute. 



This family consists of several genera of birds, 

 most of them of aquatic or semi-aquatic liabits, 

 ranging in this respect from the diving and swim- 

 ming Coot to the terrestrial Land-Rail, and exhi- 

 biting modifications of the typical form according 

 to the nature of the locality tenanted, be it lake, 

 morass, or meadow. The members of this family 

 are so constructed as to be able to thread their way 

 through beds of the thickest stems of reeds, bul- 

 rushes, and other aquatic plants, among which they 

 seek shelter or concealment, — or, as in the case of 

 the Land- Rail, through the tall grass of the meadow, 

 — and that so rapidly and noiselessly, that they elude 

 pursuit with great ease, and seldom can be forced 

 to take wing. To adapt them to such a mode of 

 life, the shape of their body is much compressed 

 on the sides, owing to the structure of the breast- 

 bone, which is very narrow. In all, the toes are 

 long and spreading, enabling them to pass over soft 

 ooze, or even the flat leaves of the plants which 

 float in close array upon the surface of the water. 

 Their beak is generally strong, often remarkably so ; 

 but in this respect there is much variety in difi'erent 

 genera. Many of them swim habitually and mth 

 facility. The feet of most of the species, however, 

 are divided, and without webs ; but in some (the 

 Gallinules) the toes are bordered along their sides 

 by a narrow edging, which is an extension, as it 



