GRALLATORES. RALLUS. 171 



the second and third, which are the longest in the wing. 

 The bastard wing armed with a spine or spur. 



Forehead plumed ; the shaft of each feather ending in a 

 sharp horny point. 



Tail short, consisting of twelve feathers. 



Legs of mean length, with the tibiae naked for a short 

 space above the tarsal joint. Feet four-toed, three before 

 and one behind ; toes long, slender, and cleft to their base, 

 the middle one generally as long as the tarsus. Hind toe as 

 long as the first joint of the middle one, and touching the 

 ground. Nails falcate, compressed, and sharp-pointed. 

 Front of the tarsus and upper part of the toes scutellated. 



The members of the genus Rallus, which may be consi- 

 dered the typical (or representative) form in the family, have 

 the body remarkably compressed, arising from the structure 

 of the breast-bone, which is very narrow. Their wings are 

 short and rounded ; their flight awkward and irregular, and 

 only by sudden surprise, or close pursuit, can they be com- 

 pelled to take wing. This partial deficiency, however, is 

 amply compensated by the swiftness with which they can 

 pierce through the thickest growth of reeds, or other aquatic 

 herbage of the situations they chiefly frequent ; and their 

 progress through which is doubtless much facilitated by the 

 laterally-compressed form of body they possess, being thus 

 enabled to squeeze through the narrowest interval. They 

 also swim with ease, and though not so often seen in the ex- 

 ercise of this faculty as the nearly allied genus Gallinula, 

 they shew no unwillingness to pass by this mode the brooks, 

 or many pools of water, in the marshes they inhabit. They 

 live on worms, aquatic insects, and shelly molluscae, with a 

 proportion also of vegetables and seeds. They closely ap- 

 proach, in many respects, to the genera Crex and Galllnula., 

 the passage to which is effected by certain species that stand 

 at the extremity of the group, and which have the bill rather 

 shortened and thicker than that of the Common Rail 



