Rail
2 of the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Rail. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
a family of birds allied to the cranes and coots. The order stands next to that of shore birds or snipes. The common Virginia rail would pass for a fair sized snipe. It is distributed from the Atlantic to British Columbia , nesting wherever marshes of reeds, cat-tails, or tall grass are to be found. It is a timid bird. Save in time of migration, it does not leave cover willingly. It will creep through the grass, hide under water, and resort to all manner of devices before it rises. When it is flushed it flies with a feeble, aimless flutter, its legs dangle in a helpless fashion, and the bird tumbles into cover a few rods away, as though a charge of shot had passed through it. Were it not for its feeble call, one might pass by its swamp for a lifetime and not suspect its presence. It is an olivebrown bird, streaked and barred with black. If seen unnoticed, it steps about with great deliberation, thrusting its long bill into the soft mud and ooze. Its long bill and short, up-turned tail give it a queer, unbalanced look; but it can dart into cover or skip across a pool on the leaves of water plants with a quickness that is surprising. Other American rails, for there are a dozen species, are the king rail, the largest of all; the clapper rails of salt marshes; the Carolina rail, a favorite with gunners; the sora, a yellow rail recognizable by its slow cry of krek, krek; and the little black rail, seldom seen, about five inches in length. In Great Britain the corresponding birds are called land rails and water rails. The land rails are called corn-crakes. They nest in meadows and not infrequently lose their heads by the mower's scythe. The narrow build of the bird, enabling it to step between the stems of sedges, has given rise to the popular saying "As slim as a rail." Hell Gate, Colorado
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
the common name of the Rallidæ, a family of grallatorial birds comprehending the rails proper (Rallus), the coots, water-hens, and crakes. Most of the members of the family are aquatic or frequent marshes; but some, as the crakes, frequent dry situations. The principal species of the genus Rallus are the water rail of Europe (R. aquaticus), about 11 inches in length, of an olive brown color, marked with black above, and of a bluish-ash color beneath, with white transverse markings on the belly, much esteemed for the table; the Virginian rail of the United States (R. virginianus), somewhat smaller than the water rail of Europe; and the greatbreasted rail or fresh-water marsh hen (R. elegans), about 20 inches long, which inhabits the marshes of the Southern States of the United States. The land rail, so named, is the CORN CRAKE (q. v.).
What Has Changed in the Last Century
The birds themselves are much as Aiton's described them in 1910, and DNA work has confirmed the old instinct that rails belong beside the cranes, in the order Gruiformes. What has changed is their fortunes. The corncrake or land rail, which Aiton's noted "not infrequently lose their heads by the mower's scythe," was driven out of nearly all of mainland Britain by mechanised and earlier mowing during the 20th century and now breeds mainly in the Hebrides and other Scottish islands under an organised recovery scheme; the Carolina rail or sora, "a favorite with gunners," came under federal protection in the United States after the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918. Island rails have fared worst of all: the flightless Guam rail was wiped out in the wild by introduced brown tree snakes in the 1980s and, after captive breeding and release on nearby islands, became only the second bird ever moved back off the Extinct in the Wild list, in 2019. A small correction: Aiton's runs two birds together, since the sora and the yellow rail are separate species, and the Virginia rail is now Rallus limicola rather than Collier's R. virginianus.
Written for this edition, 2026.