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Crake
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, although the family is found in every terrestrial habitat except dry deserts, polar regions, and alpine areas above the snow line. Members of the Rallidae occur on every continent except Antarctica. Numerous island species are known. The most common rail habitats are marshland and dense forest. They are especially fond of dense vegetation.Horsfall & Robinson (2003): pp. 206–207 Name "Rail" is the anglicized respelling of the French ''râle'', from Old French ''rasle''. It is named from its harsh cry, in Vulgar Latin *''rascula'', from Latin ''rādere'' ("to scrape"). Morphology The rails are a family of small to medium-sized, ground-living birds. They vary in length from and in weight from . Some species have long necks and in many cas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Porphyrio
''Porphyrio'' is the swamphen or swamp hen bird genus in the Rallidae, rail family. It includes some smaller species which are usually called "purple gallinules", and which are sometimes separated as genus ''Porphyrula'' or united with the gallinules proper (or "moorhens") in ''Gallinula''. The ''Porphyrio'' gallinules are distributed in the warmer regions of the world. The group probably originated in Africa in the Middle Miocene, before spreading across the world in waves from the Late Miocene to Pleistocene. The genus ''Porphyrio'' was introduced by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760 with the western swamphen (''Porphyrio porphyrio'') as the type species. The genus name ''Porphyrio'' is the Latin name for "swamphen", meaning "purple". Species The genus contains ten extant species and two that have become extinct in historical times: Extant species * Purple swamphen complex ** Western swamphen, ''Porphyrio porphyrio'' ** African swamphen, ''Porphyrio madag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
