ORDER GRALL.T". 541 



(Fr. Rdlement). We may remark, in general, that these 

 birds, which remain during the day concealed in the grass, 

 seek their food morning and evening in the reeds and plants 

 of marshes and meadows. They fly very far, and walk with 

 great agility. They never join in families or flocks. They 

 raise their neck like hens when they are disturbed, and the 

 young quit the nest immediately after birth, and seize of 

 their own accord the food which is indicated to them by the 

 mother. To the Land-rail or Cor7icral:e^ these remarks ai'e 

 not perhaps applicable in all respects. 



The Water-rail {Rallus Aqicaticus) runs along stagnant 

 waters as fast as the corn-crake does over the fields. Some- 

 times, instead of traversing the water by swimming, it sus- 

 tains itself on the broad leaves of aquatic plants. Its food 

 consists in insects, snails, and shrimps. It makes its nest in 

 the midst of plants, by the side of ponds and streams, and 

 the female lays from six to ten yellowish eggs, marked with 

 spots of reddish-brown. The flesh of this bird has a marshy 

 taste, but is, notwithstanding, in some estimation. The Phi- 

 lippine Rail is described at page 403. 



Among the species which form the genus Ceex of Bech- 

 stein, is 



The Land-rail, or Corn-crake, which is in the genus 

 Gallinule of Latham. In the more southern countries this 

 is a bird of passage. It arrives among us and in France 

 about April or May, and disappears in the commencement of 

 October. By its short and sharp cry, cr'ik, cr'ik, we recog- 

 nize its return. On approaching the quarter whence this cry 

 proceeds, the sound is not discontinued, but heard a little 

 farther on, which is occasioned by the bird, which can fly 

 away but with difficulty, running with extreme swiftness 

 through the tufted grass. In consequence of the coincidence 

 between the return and departure of the quails and this bird, 

 the latter has been sometimes deemed the conductor of the 



