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 tibia 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 molluscee, with a 
proportion also of vegetables and seeds. They closely ap- 
proach, in many respects, to the genera Crexv and Gallinula, 
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. 
