The watercock (''Gallicrex cinerea'') is a waterbird in the rail and crake family,

Rallidae The rails, or Rallidae, are a large cosmopolitan family of small- to medium-sized, ground-living birds. The family exhibits considerable diversity and includes the crakes, coots, and gallinules. Many species are associated with wetlands, althou ...

that is widely distributed across

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainlan ...

. It is the only member of the genus ''Gallicrex''.

Taxonomy

The watercock was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his Nobility#Ennoblement, ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalise ...

's '' Systema Naturae''. He placed it with the coots in the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

'' Fulica'' and coined the binomial name ''Fulica cinerea''. Gmelin based his description on the "crested gallinule" from China that had been described in 1785 by the English ornithologist John Latham in his ''A General Synopsis of Birds''. The watercock is now the only species placed in the genus ''Gallicrex'' that was introduced in 1852 by Edward Blyth. The genus name combines the genus '' Gallus'' with the genus '' Crex''. The specific epithet ''cinerea'' is from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

''cinereus'' meaning "ash-grey". The species is

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispe ...

: no subspecies are recognised. Traditionally held to be closely related to

moorhen Moorhens—sometimes called marsh hens—are medium-sized water birds that are members of the rail family (Rallidae). Most species are placed in the genus ''Gallinula'', Latin for "little hen". They are close relatives of coots. They are of ...

s (which the adult male visually closely resembles), it is actually a member of a mostly tropical Asian clade containing also '' Aenigmatolimnas, Amaurornis, Himantornis'' and '' Megacrex''. Watercock_(Gallicrex_cinerea)

Description

Adult male watercocks are long and weigh .''CRC Handbook of Avian Body Masses'' by John B. Dunning Jr. (Editor). CRC Press (1992), . They have mainly black-grey plumage with red legs, bill, extended

frontal shield A frontal shield, also known as a facial shield or frontal plate, is a feature of the anatomy of several bird species. Located just above the upper mandible, and protruding along the forehead, it is composed of two main parts: a hard, proteinaceo ...

and horn. Young males are buff in colour, darkening as they mature. Their bill is yellow and their legs are green. Female birds are smaller at and . They are dark brown above and paler below. Their plumage is streaked and barred with darker markings. The bill is yellow and the legs are green. The downy chicks are black, as with all

rails Rail or rails may refer to: Rail transport *Rail transport and related matters *Rail (rail transport) or railway lines, the running surface of a railway Arts and media Film * ''Rails'' (film), a 1929 Italian film by Mario Camerini * ''Rail'' ( ...

. The body of this rail is flattened laterally to allow easier passage through the reeds or undergrowth. It has long toes and a short tail. Watercock are quite secretive, but are sometimes seen out in the open. They are noisy

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

s, especially at dawn and dusk, with a loud, gulping

call Call or Calls may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Games * Call, a type of betting in poker * Call, in the game of contract bridge, a bid, pass, double, or redouble in the bidding stage Music and dance * Call (band), from Lahore, Paki ...

Distribution and habitat

Their breeding habitat is swamps across south

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

from

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

, and Sri Lanka to south China,

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

, Japan,

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

and

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. These large rails are mainly permanent residents throughout their range.

Behaviour and ecology

Breeding

They nest in a dry location on the ground in marsh vegetation, laying 3-6 eggs.

Food and feeding

These birds probe with their bill in mud or shallow water, also picking up food by sight. They mainly eat

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three ...

s and small

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of ...

and

seed A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiospe ...

s. They

forage Forage is a plant material (mainly plant leaves and stems) eaten by grazing livestock. Historically, the term ''forage'' has meant only plants eaten by the animals directly as pasture, crop residue, or immature cereal crops, but it is also used ...

on the ground.

Gallery

File:Water Cock in flight.jpg, Watercock in flight File:Water Cock SJ.jpg, Watercock - rear view

References

* ''Birds of India'' by Grimmett, Inskipp and Inskipp, {{Taxonbar, from=Q494424 Rallidae Birds of East Asia Birds of South Asia Birds of Southeast Asia Birds described in 1789 Taxa named by Johann Friedrich Gmelin