RALLIDjE. 
327 
Rallus. — Generic characters . — Bill long, slender, 
compressed, towards the tip subcylindrical and 
slightly curving ; nasal furrow long and wide ; 
nostrils linear and pierced near the centre of 
its length ; wings short, concave, rounded, 
third and fourth quills longest ; carpal angle 
often armed with a spine ; legs of mean length ; 
bare above the tarsal joint ; feet long, slender ; 
toes cleft to the base ; hallux short, articulated 
near the plane of the others. 
Type, Ji. aquaticus, &c. Cosmopolite. 
Note . — Habits aquatic ; skulking ; lay numerous 
eggs ; perch on rails or low trunks of trees ; 
feathers of the forehead with the shafts pro- 
longed into homy points 
