172 GBALLATORES. RALLUS. RAIL. 



COMMON RAIL. 



RALLUS AQUATICVS, Linn. 

 PLATE XXIX. 



Rallus aquaticus, Linn. Syst. 1. 262. sp. 2 Geml Syst. 1. 712 Rail, 



Syn. 113. A. 2 Ibid. 190. 12 Witt. 234. t. 16 Lath. Ind. Orn. 2. 



755. 1. but not the var. B Steph. Shaw's Zool. 12. 192. pi. 25-Flem. 



Br. Anim. 1. 98. sp. 128. 

 Gallina serica Gesneri, Raii Syn. 114. 4. 



La Rale d'Eau, Buff. Ois. 3. 154. t. l3.Temm. Man. d'Ornith. 2. 683. 

 La Rale d'Eau d'Europe, Cuv. Reg. Anim. 1. 500. 

 Wasser Ralle, Bechst. Naturg. Deut. 4. 464. Meyer, Tasschenb. Deut. 2. 



2. 406. 



Velvet Runner, Will. (Angl.) 315. 

 Water Rail, Bilcock, or Brook Ouzel, Will. (Angl.) 314 Penn, Br. 



Zool. 2. 484. No. 214. t. 75. Alton's Br. Birds, 1. pi. 77 Lath. Syn. 5. 



227. I. Levin's Br. Birds, 5. t. 189 Pult. Cat. Dorset, p. 15 Mont. 



Orn. Diet. 1. and Sup. Bewick's Br. Birds, 2. t. p. 13. Shaw's Zool. 12. 



192. pi. 25 Flem. Br. Anim. 1.98. sp. 128. 



Bilcock, Rennie's Mont. Ornith. Diet. p. 33. 



PROVINCIAL Runner, Skiddy.cock, Oar-cock, Grey-skit, Brook-runner. 



THE shy and solitary habits of this bird, as well as the 

 peculiar localities it inhabits, and the difficulty with which it 

 is forced on wing, prevent it being so frequently seen as, 

 from its general dispersion throughout the kingdom, might 

 otherwise be expected. It is permanently resident in this 

 country, and to be found at all seasons of the year. MON- 

 TAGU, however, (in the Supplement to his Ornithological 

 Dictionary,) suggests that a part of those annually produced 

 may probably migrate, and, in favour of this opinion, instances 

 the great accumulation of Rails in the marshes of Devonshire 

 in the autumn, being the period when, in this case, they 

 would naturally leave England for a warmer climate. This 

 supposition I have not been able to verify, and further ob- 

 servations are therefore necessary to convert it into a fact. 

 In the northern continental parts of Europe, this is a regu- 

 larly migrative species, but in those countries the winter 

 being always much more severe than it is in England, the 

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