Rail is the common name of a family of marsh birds that live throughout most of the world. The family includes the rails proper, the gallinules, and the coots or mud hens. The birds called rails live in grassy marshes. They run swiftly over the mud, seeking worms, insects, snails, floating seeds, and plant sprouts to eat. Rails vary in length from 5 to 25 inches (13 to 64 centimeters). They have long, narrow bodies, short wings and tails, long legs and toes, and loose plumage of mixed black, brown, and gray feathers. A rail’s shape helps it slip through reeds and grasses. The expression “thin as a rail” may come from their appearance. Rails migrate long distances. However, the birds are seldom seen in flight except when chased from cover. They build nests of grasses on the ground or among rushes over water. They lay from 6 to 15 buffy-white eggs, speckled with reddish-brown.
The rails most common in Europe are the water rail and the corn crake, which frequents fields. The king rail, yellow rail, black rail, clapper rail, Virginia rail, and sora (or sora rail) are found in America. The clapper rail is hunted in the southern United States.
