WATER-RAILS—WOOD-RAILS. 



249 



Ttie Bails.— 

 Sub-Family 



BallincE. 



type of tliis section. The water-rail is certainly not a bird to be observed 

 every day. It is the inipersonification of shyness and retiring habits. A 

 coot or a moor-hen is often seen in the open, and may 

 be observed from the windows of a railway train, swimming 

 about on lalces or pools of water, the coot easily discernible 

 by its waxy-white shield on the forehead, the moor-hen by 

 its red frontal shield and the bright red garter above the 

 hock, which is easily in evidence as it swims. The water-rail, on the con- 

 trary, is never seen, nor can its voice be heard, like that of the noisy corn- 

 crake. It is a bird of the reed-beds and the marshes, and is so disinclined 

 for flight, that even when pursued by a dog, it will double and turn and 

 twist, rather than fly, and is often caught by the dogs before it can bring 

 itself to use its wings. The eggs are numerous, from seven to eleven in 

 number, of a creamy white, double-spotted, with 

 reddish - brown overlying spots and ashy - grey 

 underlying ones. Tho nest is well concealed 

 among coarse herbage, of which it is composed, 

 and the young are covered with black down, and 

 can take care of themselves soon after they are 

 hatched, swimming and diving, and managing to 

 conceal themselves from danger in a marvellous 

 manner. 



The water-rails are found all over the New 

 World, and also in the Old World, except in the 

 Indo-Malayan sub-region and the whole of the 

 Australian region, where their place is taken by 

 the barred rails (Hypotcerddia). In the tropical 

 regions of South America, Limnopardalus replaces 

 the genus Eallus, and in the islands of the Aus- 

 tralian region, the dusky rails {Cahalxia) are one 

 of the most curious forms of bird-life. In the 

 Chatham Islands is, or rather was, found C. 

 dieffenbachii, now believed to be extinct, and in these islands also occurs C. 

 modestus, a dusky-brown species, which cannot fly, and is also on the verge of 

 extinction, while a third species, G. sylvestrls, is peculiar to Lord Howe Island. 



These are birds of the bush and forest, though showing considerable likeness 

 to the water-hens. They are found in both hemispheres, and one genus at 

 least, Megacrex, from Southern New Guinea, is incapable of 

 flight. The black wood-rail {Hah'optUa wallacii) was dis- The Wood-Rails, 

 covered by Dr. A. R. Wallace in the island of Halmah^ra 

 in the Moluccas, and when sent home by him, the species was described and 

 figured in the "Proceedings of the Zoological Society," as an ordinary rail 

 standing in the water. Consequently, when the Dutch travellers received 

 instructions from Professor Schlegel to be sure and find Hahroptila, they 

 searched for the bird in the marshes, but ultimately discovered it in the 

 bush. It is altogether a curious form, black like a water-lien, and having a 

 small frontal shield. 



Perhaps one of the most interesting genera of this group of rails are the 

 wood-rails of the neo-tropical region {Aramides), which have a somewhat 

 ornamental plumage of rufous and grey, with a bright yellow bill and red 

 legs. Of late years they have been seen in the aviaries and zoological 

 gardens of Europe, and have even been known to nest in captivity. 



Fig. 16 — ■Water-Eail 

 (Rallus aquaticus). 



