518 



RALLUS. RAIL. 



The Rails are small birds, varying in size between the 

 Woodcock and Jack Snipe, and having a slender, extremely 

 compressed body, with a rather long neck, and small, oblong, 

 much compressed head. 



Bill longer than the head, slender, firm, straightish, being 

 slightly arcuate, compressed in its whole length, slightly 

 tapering ; upper mandible, with its dorsal outline slightly 

 decimate at the base, straight in the middle, a little decimate 

 towards the end, the ridge convex, having a slightly enlarged 

 angular commencement, the sides nearly erect, the edges 

 sharp, hard, and slightly inflected ; lower mandible, with the 

 angle extremely long and narrow, the dorsal outline nearly 

 straight, the edges slightly inflected, the tips narrow, but 

 obtuse. The gape-line almost straight ; the nasal groove 

 extending to two-thirds of the length of the bill. Internal 

 concavity of the mandibles very deep ; palate extremely- 

 narrow, with a single row of compressed papilla?. 



Eyes small, eyelids feathered. Nostrils sub-basal, linear, 

 pervious. Aperture of ear small. Feet large ; tibia muscular, 

 its lower part bare ; tarsus of moderate length, large, com- 

 pressed, anteriorly covered with broad curved scutella ; toes 

 very long, slender, much compressed ; the first proportionally 

 small, the second considerably shorter than the fourth, the 

 third longest. Claws long, slender, tapering, slightly arched, 

 much compressed. 



Plumage blended ; the feathers on the head very short, 

 those on the forehead with strong bristle points, of the body 

 oblong and broadly rounded. Wings short, concave, rounded ; 

 quills twenty-two ; primaries weak, broad, rather rounded, 

 the first much shorter than the second, which is about the 



