AM.ERICAN V/ATER-S.AIL, 
ill it the Pennsylvanian Rail ; but the Ame- 
can Water-Rail, sent to him from Pennsyi- 
ania. It is evidently not peculiar either to 
Pennsylvania, or to Virginia ; but, probably, 
■quaily a native of most of the American states, 
n what was formerly called New England. 
There are, in the Systema Nature, two 
varieties of the Cayenne Rail, neither of which 
entirely agree with our American Water-RaiL 
The fiist is described as having the crown ru- 
fous ; the body, above olive-brown, and be- 
neath rufous ; the ocular band, blackish ; the 
quill-feathers, black; the bill, bro\^'n; and the 
legs, bay. The second, a bay crown ; with, 
the chin and vent reddish white. They are 
described, indiscriminately, as being inhabi- 
tants of Cayenne and Guiana ; eight inches 
long ; solitary in the day-time, but noisy, and 
gregarious, in the evening ; and building in the 
forked branch of a shrub, near the ground. 
It seems probable that, notwitlistanding 
the obvious differences, they are all originally 
of one family: and, as suggested by Edwards, 
allied 
