114 
VIRGINIAN RAIL. 
RALLUS FIRGIJVMJVUS. 
[Plate LXII.— Fig. 1.] 
^rct. Zool. JVo. 408. — Edw. 279. — Lath. Si/n, v. 3, p. 228, No, 1 ; var, A. — Rallus Vir^ 
ginianus, Linn. Syst, 1, p. 263, No. 12. — R, PensilvanicuSi Briss. Sup, p, 138. — Peale’s 
Museum^ No. 4426. 
THIS species very much resembles the European Water Rail, 
(Rallus aquaticus) but is smaller, and has none of the slate or lead 
color on the bi’east which marks that of the old continent ; its toes 
are also more than proportionably shorter, which, with a few other 
peculiarities, distinguish the species. It is far less numerous in 
this part of the United States than our common Rail, and, as I ap- 
prehend, inhabits more remote northern regions. It is frequently 
seen along the borders of our salt marshes, which the other rarely 
visits ; and also breeds thei’e, as well as among the meadows that 
border our large rivers. It spreads over the interior as far west 
as the Ohio, having myself shot it in the barrens of Kentucky, 
early in May. The people there observe them in wet places, in 
the groves, only in spring. It feeds less on vegetable and more 
on animal food than the common Rail. During the months of 
September and October, when the reeds and wild oats swarm with 
the latter species, feeding on their nutritious seeds, a few of the 
present kind are occasionally found ; but not one for five hundred 
of the others. The food of the present species consists of small 
snail shells, worms, and the larvae of insects, which it extracts from 
the mud ; hence the cause of its greater length of bill, to enable it 
the more readily to reach its food. On this account also, its flesh 
is much inferior to that of the other. In most of its habits, its thin 
