. Birds of America;. Birds -- North America. Courtesy of Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. LIMPKIN A long-legged wading bird of Florida and tropical America RAILS, GALLINULES, AND COOTS Order Paludicolcc; suborder Ralli; family Rallidcs BOUT fifty genera, embracing one hundred and eighty species constitute this family, the/?a//;J(r, whichinckides the Rails (/^a/Z/'ncr), Gallinules {Gallimdincc), and Coots (Fulicincr). The distribution of these birds is virtually cosmopolitan, and abotit fifteen species occur, regularly or casually, in North America. They are from small to fair-sized birds, with noticeably c
. Birds of America;. Birds -- North America. Courtesy of Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. LIMPKIN A long-legged wading bird of Florida and tropical America RAILS, GALLINULES, AND COOTS Order Paludicolcc; suborder Ralli; family Rallidcs BOUT fifty genera, embracing one hundred and eighty species constitute this family, the/?a//;J(r, whichinckides the Rails (/^a/Z/'ncr), Gallinules {Gallimdincc), and Coots (Fulicincr). The distribution of these birds is virtually cosmopolitan, and abotit fifteen species occur, regularly or casually, in North America. They are from small to fair-sized birds, with noticeably compressed bodies,— well adapted to rapid progress through thickly growing reeds and rtishes,— long necks, small heads, short, rounded wings, short tails, and long, strong legs and feet. The bill is short and henlike in the Coots and Gallinules, but long and slightly curved toward the end in the Rails. The plumage is subdued and blended in color. A family peculiarity is that of running, rather than flying, to escape danger, a trait apparently responsible for the extermination of certain species which had lost the power of flight through disuse of the wings, and the steady diminu- tion of others for the same reason. " Rails and Gallinules are marsh birds, very secretive in habits, keeping well under cover of the dense rushes and grasses, except at night or in the twilight, when they venture out on the mudd}/^ shores. When silently floating along the marshy stream, one may often see them standing motionless near their favorite coverts, or walking deliberately along the margin flirting their upturned tails and bobbing their necks in henlike fashion. Their cries are also loud, and remind one of the different notes of our domestic fowl. Consequently all our species of the family, from the Virginia Rail to the Coot, have received the common name of Mud Hens. The flight of Rails and Gallinules is feeble and hesitating. They usually take wing as a last resort, and then proceed
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