RALLID.ii — RAILING : RAILS AND CRAKES. 851 



those still extant ; while some of the existent species appear to be upon the verge of extinction, 

 and certain others have ceased to survive during the last century. The Hightlessness which is 

 so marked a cause or concomitant of such fate is an evidence of degeneracy ; and this loss of 

 use of the wings is associated with profound structural modiiications of the anatomical parts 

 concerned. Thus, in some cases the scapula makes an obtuse angle with the coracoid, as it does 

 in no other carinate bird than the Dodo, and so the shoulder girdle approaches its condition in 

 Eatite birds. Prominent among flightless EalUclce are the Wekas of New Zealand, belonging 

 to the genus Oci/dromus, and sometimes made types of a subfamily Oci/drominincB. There are 

 several species, whose synonymy has become somewhat involved, but one of the best known 

 is that usually called 0. australis. Another is 0. sylvestris, lately or still lingering on Lord 

 Howe Island. In similar plight is the Papuan Megacrex inepta. a species some 20 inches long, 

 with a very poor tail as well as inept wings, and a frontal shield like a Gallinule's; and closely 

 related is HahroptUa tcullacei of the Moluccan island of Gilolo, a medium-sized blackish species 

 with a small fruutal shield and fairly developed wings. TrichoUmnus lafresnaijanus of New 

 Caledonia lias by some been considered an Ocydrome. Several extinct birds, whose remains 

 indicate relationship with the languishing forms just named, are Erythromachus leguati of 

 Rodriguez, Aphanapteryx broecki of Mauritius, and A. (or Diaphorapteryx') hawkinsi oi the 

 Chatham Islands. Among the Gallinules proper Notornis alba, late of Lord Howe and Norfolk 

 Islands, a white species of large size with red legs and bill, has disappeared, and only a single 

 specimen is known ; but iV. mantelli survives iu New Zealand, though it was first described in 

 1848 from remains supposed to be those of an extinct species. It is probable that the fossil 

 species of Aptornis as A. otidiformis have their modern representatives in such Gallinules as 

 these. Two flightless Gallinules form the genus Porphyriornis, P. nesiotis of Tristan d'Acunha 

 and P. comeri of Gough Island, both still living. Leyiiatia gigantea is one of the most remark- 

 able of the recently extinct forms of Mauritius, and appears to have been a long-legged Gallinule 

 or Coot. There are many fossil species of existent genera, and some of the extinct Ralliform 

 birds go back to tlie Cretaceous, as the Telmatornis of our own Fauna. But aside from such 

 peculiar living RalUdce as have been uauied in this paragraph, our country furnishes excellent 

 examples of the whole family. 



Analysis 0/ Subfamilies and Genera. 



Rallin.*:. Jiails and Crakes. No frontal shield, feathers of forehead reaching bill. Toes simple. Body com- 

 pressed. 



Bill slender, longer than head, curved, with long narrow nasal groove and linear nostrils Rallus 



Bill stout, not longer than head, straight, with broad nasal groove and oblong nostrils Porzana 



As iu the last ; wings longer, folding nearly to end of tail Crex 



Gallinulin*. Gallinules. A bare horny frontal shield. Toes simple or merely margined. Body less compressed. 



Toes without evident lateral mai gins ; nostrils oval lonornis 



Toes with lateral margins ; nostrils narrow Gallinula 



FnucuJiE. Coots. A bare homy frontal shield. Toes lobate. Body depressed. Nostrils narrow . . . Fulica 



Subfamily RALLINiC : Rails and Crakes. 



The largest, and central or typical, group, containing strictly pahidicnlo species. Com- 

 pression of b(;dy is at a maximum; form blunt and thick behiud, witli a very short tip-up tail, 

 and tapers to a point in front; the whole figure thus adapted to wedge through narrow places. 

 Wings extremely short and rounded, and tiie ordinary flight appears feeble and vacillating, 

 though the migrations of many species are very extensive. Tlic tail has \2 feathers. The 

 flank- feathers are commonly enlarged and conspicuously colored; thiglis very muscular; tibife 

 generally if not always naked below; tarsi scutellate in front; toes long, cleft, without lobes 

 or any obvious marginal membranes. Tlic bill occurs under two jiriucipal moditicatioiis : in 

 Rallus j)roper it is longer than head, slender, compressed, slightly curved, long-gnH)Vod, 

 with linear nostrils; in Porzana and other genera of Crakes it is shorter or not longer than 



