240 



THE FOOD OF ANIMALS 



RAILS (ORALLY) 



A widely -distributed group of forms is constituted by the 

 RAILS, which are closely related to the game-birds. Some are 

 aquatic, but most of them live on the ground, especially in marshy 

 places among thick grasses and sedges, although others prefer dry 

 plains, the last being more particularly the case with certain 

 species which have lost the power of flight. The food is usually 



Fig. 458. Corncrake (Crex pratensis) 



of mixed character and very varied, and the body is character- 

 istically compressed from side to side, which much facilitates rapid 

 progression through the closely-growing vegetation among which 

 such birds live. Among our seven native species, of which two 

 are rare visitors, the most familiar are the Land- Rail or Corncrake 

 (Crex pratensis) (fig. 458) so commonly heard in our cultivated 

 fields, the Moor- Hen (Gallinula chloropus), and the Coot (Fulica 

 atra), both the last-named being aquatic. 



BUSTARDS AND CRANES (ALECTORIDES) 



A group related to the Rails is that including the CRANES, 

 TRUMPETERS, and BUSTARDS, most' of which are long -necked, 

 long-legged forms, living in the main upon vegetable food, sup- 

 plemented by all sorts of small animals. Cranes (see vol. i, p. 



