. Three voyages of a naturalist, being an account of many little- known islands in three oceans visited by the "Valhalla," ; . A FLIGHTLESS RAIL 109 one of them fly, or even try to do so : they trustedentirely to their legs when pursued. In severalpatches of bush we came across family parties ofthem, and although the young were mostly full-grown and feathered, we saw several which werestill covered with black down. They were foundon aU parts of the island, except on the summit ofthe sandy hiU on the windward side. Whileuttering its remarkable note, this rail stands quitestill and pufEs o
. Three voyages of a naturalist, being an account of many little- known islands in three oceans visited by the "Valhalla," ; . A FLIGHTLESS RAIL 109 one of them fly, or even try to do so : they trustedentirely to their legs when pursued. In severalpatches of bush we came across family parties ofthem, and although the young were mostly full-grown and feathered, we saw several which werestill covered with black down. They were foundon aU parts of the island, except on the summit ofthe sandy hiU on the windward side. Whileuttering its remarkable note, this rail stands quitestill and pufEs out aU its feathers ; from what Iobserved I should say that the skin of the throatis also expanded. The notes are loud—a strangemixture of squealing, grunting and booming—and during its song the bird appears to be graduallycollapsing, until at the end it is once more ofnormal size. I have heard our English water-railutter a somewhat similar noise when near its nest,but its cries are never so loud as those of theAssumption rail. We caught two of them aliveand brought them safely to England, and they areat the time I write li
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectvoyagesaroundtheworl
