of 



561 



position of similar parts around a common 

 centre. Their organs of motion, when they 

 have any, are movable spines attached to 

 the skin, or flexible papillae, capable of in- 

 flation. They have no true system of circu- 

 lation, and their nervous system is always 

 obscure, and sometimes cannot be traced. 

 Some have a mouth and vent, others only 

 one opening, and others appear to be nou- 

 rished through pores. Some are of distinct 

 sexes ; some bisexual, and some are produced 

 by buds or division. Many grow in clusters 

 upon stalks, or Polypidoms dwellings of 

 polypi, which are sometimes leathery or 

 horny, and sometimes calcareous. 



RAIL. (Rallus.) A genus of Wading- 

 birds, of which there are many species. 

 They are distinguished by a very com- 

 pressed form of body, with wings of a 

 middling length, rounded, and the first quill 

 shorter than the second, third, or fouith. 

 They seldom fly, but run or swim with ce- 

 lerity : they frequent large ponds or lakes, 

 the borders of which are well clothed with 

 plants ; and they subsist on vegetables and 

 seeds, as well as on insects, snails, and 

 worms. 



The Common EUROPEAN- WATER RAJL 

 (Rallvs aquaticus) is nearly twelve inches 

 long. It has a red beak shaded with brown 

 at the tip ; irides orange ; throat whitish : 

 the sides of the head, neck, breast, and belly 

 are of an ashy lead-colour : all the feathers 

 on the upper parts of the body are reddish- 

 brown, with a deep black mark in the centre 

 of each ; the flanks are deep black, trans- 

 versely rayed with white bars ; the under 

 tail-coverts are white ; the legs lead-co- 

 loured. The young of the year have the 

 middle of the belly of a brown-red, and are 

 destitute of the white band on the sides. 



This bird is not very common in Britain, 

 though it is found throughout the country, 

 and continues with us all the year : it is 

 said to be very numerous in the northern 

 countries of Europe, migrating southward 

 during the severity of winter : it is very 

 abundant also in Germany, France, and 

 Holland. It is shy and solitary in its habits, 

 resorting to low damp situations overgrown 

 with sedges, reeds, and coarse herbage, 

 among which it shelters, and is seldom put 

 to flight unless pressed by the dogs, rather 

 depending on its legs for safety ; but when 

 once flushed it is easily shot, as it flies in a 

 heavy and awkward manner, with its legs 

 hanging down : it runs, however, very fast, 

 and frequently flits up its tail. Though it 

 swims, and even dives well occasionally, it 

 delights most in shallow water, where it can 

 wade through without swimming. Its nest 

 is constructed of sedges and coarse grass 

 amongst the thickest aquatic plants ; and it 

 lays from six to ten eggs, of a yellowish 

 colour, spotted with red-brown. 



The VIRGINIAN RAIL (Rallus Virginianus) 

 very much resembles the European Water 

 Rail described above ; but it is smaller, and 

 has none of the slate or lead colour on the 

 breast. It feeds more on animal and less 

 oil vegetable food than the common and 



more numerous species known as the Clapper 

 Rail. During the months of September and 

 October, when the reeds and wild oats swarm 

 with the latter, feeding on their nutritious 

 seeds, there are but few of the Virginian 

 Rail to be met with. The food of this spe- 

 cies consists of small snails, worms, and the 

 larvae of insects, which it extracts from the 

 mud ; hence the cause of its greater length 

 of bill, to enable it the more readily to search 

 its food. In most of its habits, its thin com- I 

 pressed form of body, its aversion to take | 

 wing, and the dexterity with which it runs 

 or conceals itself among the grass and sedge, 

 are exactly similar to those of the common ; 

 Rail. The Virginian Rail is migratory, 

 I never wintering in the northern or middle 

 I States. It makes its first appearance in 

 i Pennsylvania early in May, and leaves the 

 I country on the first smart frosts, generally 

 in November. They frequent those parts of 

 the salt marshes only where fresh-water 

 springs rise through the bogs, and in these 

 places the female usually constructs her 

 nest. The usual number of eggs is from six 

 to ten : they are shaped like those of the 



domestic hen, and are of a dirty white or 

 pale cream-colour, sprinkled with specks of 

 reddish or pale purple, most numerous near 

 the great end. This species is ten inches in 

 length : bill, dusky red ; cheeks and stripe 

 over the eye, ash ; over the lores and at the 

 lower eyelid, white ; crown and whole upper 

 parts, black, streaked with brown, the centre 

 of each feather being black ; wing-coverts, 

 hazel-brown ; quills, plain deep dusky; chin, 

 white ; throat, breast, and belly, orange- 

 brown ; sides and vent black, tipped with 

 white ; leggs and feet, dull red-brown ; edge 

 of the bend of the wing, white. 



RALLID^E. A family of birds (the Rails, 

 Gallinules, Water-hens, &c.), chiefly distin- 

 guished by their long and slender toes, often 

 with a membranous margin along their 

 sides ; by means of which, and their gene- 

 rally compressed bodies, they are not only 

 enabled to support themselves on the aquatic 

 herbage which is seen floating on the surface 

 of the water, but to move with great facility 

 through high grass, bulrushes, and other 

 closely-set herbage. Mr. Swainson describes 

 them " for the most part as solitary and 

 timid birds, hiding themselves at the least 

 approach of danger, but quitting their semi- 



