TROGLODYTE RAIL. 
the crown, neck, back, breast, and belly are brown, 
edged with rufous-grey : the cheeks and throat are 
cinereous : over the eye is a streak of the last colour : 
the wings are very short ; their coverts coloured on 
the back : the quills are brown, marked with trans- 
verse rusty spots on each margin : the bastard wing 
is furnished with a spine half an inch in length, 
hidden amongst the feathers, and straight and pointed : 
vent and sides of the body brown : tail four inches 
long ; brown, edged with rufous-grey : legs reddish- 
brown. Latham mentions a variety with the upper 
parts of a deep chesnut: the feathers dashed with 
black down the shafts : the under parts cinereous, 
varying to chesnut on the breast : quills, lower order 
of coverts, and tail, barred chesnut and black : legs 
stout, brown. 
Native of New Zealand and the adjacent islands. 
It runs swiftly, and cannot fly, owing to the short- 
ness of its wings : it usually resides near the skirts of 
woods, and occasionally is found on the sea-coasts, 
picking up worms, &c. for food : are very tame : their 
cry is said to be loud before rain. 
This bird scarcely belongs to this genus ; as its 
structure, according to the above description, differs 
from that of the true Rails. 
