water-rail

So damp was the ground, that there were large beds of a coarse cyperus, in which great numbers of a very small water-rail lived and bred.

Journal of researches into the geology and natural history of the various countries visited by H.M.S. Beagle 2003

So damp was the ground, that there were large beds of a coarse cyperus, in which great numbers of a very small water-rail lived and bred.

Journal of researches into the geology and natural history of the various countries visited by H.M.S. Beagle 2003

Had the door opened at the knocking of the water-rail!

Diaries of Court Ladies of Old Japan b. 974? Murasaki Shikibu Izumi Shikibu 1920

So damp was the ground, that there were large beds of a coarse cyperus, in which great numbers of a very small water-rail lived and bred.

Chapter XVII 1909

I called on the assistant Resident, in whose office a beautiful blue water-rail, with a red head, walked unconcernedly about.

Through Central Borneo; an Account of Two Years' Travel in the Land of Head-Hunters Between the Years 1913 and 1917 Carl Lumholtz 1886

Jamie listened open-eyed to his accounts of the moor-hen, flapper, coot, water-rail, dab-chick, and sand-piper, to say nothing of rats in abundance, and an otter now and then.

A Vanished Hand Sarah Doudney 1884

I once turned out a dozen water-hens, a brown owl, a woodcock, and a water-rail from one little withe patch.

The Naturalist on the Thames 1882

Upon the river and lagoons and creeks the swan and wild goose and countless duck made constant clamor, and there were water-rail and snipe along the shallows.

The Story of Ab A Tale of the Time of the Cave Man Stanley Waterloo 1879

Sometimes a water-rail would come out from the sedges and walk on the surface of the lake as a tiny ostrich might on the shifting sand; pretty creatures of all sorts seemed to find their homes near the deep wonderful water, and the whole morning might be passed in silently watching the birds and beasts that came around.

The Ethics of Drink and Other Social Questions Joints In Our Social Armour James Runciman 1871

But there are yet two birds, which I think well to put with our eight dabchicks, though they are much larger than any of them, -- partly because of their disposition, and partly because of their plumage, -- the water-rail, and water-hen.

Love's Meinie Three Lectures on Greek and English Birds John Ruskin 1859