524 



R A L L U S. 



the European species as the difference of the coun- 

 tries which they inhabit will admit. Though they' 

 are not subject to the same calamities as the clapper 

 rails, yet their eggs are often washed away by the 

 ' floods. They are much more given to concealment 

 than the clapper rails, and they are not so noisy. In 

 fact, the Virginian rail hardly has a story, after that 

 of the European rail is told, only that it is much 

 more migratory, as most birds are in North America. 



The rails of the other parts of the world have got 

 np story to tell, or, rather, they have found no one 

 to tell one for them ; but we may name one or two. 



THE LAUGHING-BILLED RAIL (R. ridirhynchus} is 

 a South American species, measuring nearly a foot 

 in length. The upper parts are brown ; the top and 

 sides of the head dull brown ; the occiput and upper 

 neck bright brown ; the quills and tail-feathers black ; 

 the throat mottled with brown and white ; the breast 

 and flanks bluish brown ; a white stripe from the 

 lower neck to the belly ; the rump and thighs black ; 

 the fronts of the tarsi red, but the posterior surface of 

 them black ; the bill long, blackisfi, and with the 

 mandibles gaping at the base. There are other rails 

 in South America ; indeed the species may be said to 

 be numerous there as well as the individuals, but 

 nothing peculiar is known of their habits. There is, 

 however, one South American species which we may 

 mention on account of its great size. 



THE GIGANTIC RAIL (R. giganteus'). The general 

 > colour is blackish, glossed with reflections of green, 

 and whitish streaks along the centres of the feathers ; 

 the feathers on the rump, and also the quills and tail- 

 feathers, are without the reflection of green and the 

 streaks. The length is upwards of two feet ; but it is 

 doubtful whether this is a true water-rail, and not 

 intermediate between these and the land-rails, or 

 crakes. 



In Southern Africa, Australia, the Asiatic Isles 

 especially, and in many of the groups of islands of 

 the Pacific, there are many species of rails. They 

 are indeed one of the most generally distributed 

 sections of birds with which we are acquainted ; but, 

 generally speaking, they are birds which come little 

 . into view ; and, accordingly, the interest of their 

 history bears no proportion to their numbers. 



We shall now notice one or two of the crakes, but 

 retaining the same generic name. Their general 

 characters 'as distinguished from the rails are: the 

 bill shorter than the head, stouter at the base than in 

 the rails, and tapering to a sort of cone ; higher than 

 broad at the base ; both mandibles of equal length, 

 and compressed at the tips ; the tatsi long ; anterior 

 toes also long, and slightly margined. The typical 

 bird is 



THE CORNCRAKE (R. crex). The corncrake inha- 

 bits all the humid tracks of Europe and Asia which 

 are covered with tall and close vegetation, but not 

 absolute marshes. It endeavours to find always the 

 same kind of pasture ; and, therefore, it migrates 

 equally before the parching heats of the warm lati- 

 tudes, and the pinching cold of the more polar ones. 

 When it makes its summer appearance in places 

 where quails are also sum tner visitants, it comes about 

 the same time, and as it has .some resemblance to a 

 quail, though much larger, it sometimes gets the 

 name of " king of the quails!" 



As a British bird, the corncrake makes its appear- 

 ance, or rather comes, for it can hardly be said to 

 appear, about the mouth of April, sooner or later, 



according to the place and the season ; they go to the 

 inland and upland districts rather than to the warmer 

 places near the sea, anu they appear to do this because 

 such places are more moist and subject to rain. They 

 are said to give the preference to slovenly farms, pro- 

 bably because the cornfields in these abound more in 

 the animals on which they feed ; they are also said 

 to visit very sparingly those fields which are highly 

 dressed with lime. The birds, as we have already 

 said, are not seen, as they are not only in cover, but, 

 generally speaking, in a state of repose during the 

 day ; but in places favourable to* them the cry of crec, 

 crec, is incessant after twilight and during the night, 

 especially in those northerly places where the twi- 

 light is tolerably bright all the summer nights through. 

 They run among corn or tall grass with wonderful 

 rapidity, without making any rustle or sound ; and 

 they shift about in such a manner, that, if one crosses 

 their cover, they call upon all sides in turn, even 

 though there is probably not more than one male 

 bird. The call is continued during the incubation, 

 and the object of the male seems to be to keep danger 

 away from the female and the nest, by drawing it 

 upon himself: of course we do not mean that this is 

 a purpose which he contrives and puts in execution 

 as expecting a certain result, because that *ould 

 require the use of reason, which he does not possess ; 

 all that is meant to be implied is that this is the pur- 

 pose which the instinct serves, though of course the 

 bird himself knows nothing about it. 



The nest is very rude, and it does not require to be 

 otherwise, as it is a mere hatching spot, and not a 

 nursery for the young birds. The eggs are very 

 numerous, sometimes as many as fifteen or sixteen, 

 and yet there are very few birds of which the young 

 are so seldom got sight of. The birds linger till about 

 September, at which time some at least of the fields, 

 in which they had been bred in the earlier part of 

 the season, are cleared ; but the birds are not very 

 much more seen then than when the fields are covered 

 with tall green vegetation. For a short time before 

 their departure, too, they are silent, and few think of 

 looking for them. They lurk during the day, and, as 

 their colours are not very unlike those of clods and 

 stubble, one may pass close by them without noticing 

 them, the more especially as they lurk singly, and not 

 in families, or even in pairs. If a dog finds one he 

 cannot raise it on the wing without pushing it to the 

 very utmost extremity, and if he gives chase with 

 eagerness it is not destitute of stratagems whereby 

 to throw him out; when the dog is almost close upon 

 it, down it drops flat on the ground, and lies motion- 

 less as a stone till he overshoots it in his eagerness, 

 and then it is instantly on foot again, and off in the 

 opposite direction, generally out of the reach of the 

 dog before he can turn. 



The crec, ci-ec, of this bird, which, in lonely upland 

 places, makes the summer nights rather lively, is not 

 the love song of the corncrake; it is rather the house- 

 hold song, serving, as we have said, to attract the 

 attention of any enemy that might otherwise invade 

 the nest. In the early part of the season, and before 

 the birds are paired, which is of cour*e the time lor 

 the love song, the summer cry may be ^repeated often 

 enough by the closest imitation of the* calls of birds, 

 without attracting a single corncrake ; but there is 

 another short calling note often repeated, like the 

 sound produced by running a bit of stick very rapidly 

 across the uprights of a close railing, which takes the 



