RAILS. 
215 
the year till January and February, so that there is nothing 
extraordinary in the Weymouth specimen still exhibiting 
such marks in January, while the fact that it is a young bird 
renders it more probable that it had lost its way. 
Range outside the British Islands. — The present species inhabits 
North America from Canada southwards, and extends to 
Brazil and Argentina, as well as to the West Indian 
Islands. 
Hahits.— Similar to those of other species of Grebe. 
Nest.— A nest, found by Mr. N. B. Moore, in Florida, was 
“ composed of broken stems of dog-fennel, matted together 
with a large portion of decayed and withered aquatic plants, 
presenting when found a wet, black, and soggy bed, to all 
appearances as uncomfortable a nest as ever fell to the lot of 
delicate and beautiful downy creatures such as the little ones 
were.” (Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway, Water Birds N. Amer. 11. 
p. 442.) 
£ggg_ — Five in number. Bluish-white, with a chalky shell- 
covering, but becoming stained to a creamy-white or brown 
shade. Axis, i'7 inch ; diam., I'SS- 
THE RAILS. ORDER RALLIFORMES. 
In this order the palate is schizognathous, and the nasals 
holorhinal. The dorsal vertebrae are heterocoelous, and the 
posterior process of the ilium is sufficiently perforated to show a 
broad sacrum. The sternum has a single notch on each side 
of the posterior margin. The oil-gland is tufted and tlm aft« 
shaft is present on the contour feathers (cf. Sharpe, Cat. 1 . 
xxiii. p. r). , 
The Rails are mostly birds of an extraordinary slimness of 
body, and, as a rule, they are great skulkers, never venturing 
into the open unless driven out from their hiding places. I his 
is especially true of the Water-Rails and Crakes, many ot t e 
tropical members of these groups being almost, or quite, 
incapable of flight. 
