Rails

Rails are small, shy, marshland birds in the family Rallidae, which includes about 129 species. This family has a worldwide distribution, occurring on all continents except Antarctica. Many species of rails occur only on certain remote, oceanic islands, where many of these isolated species have evolved a flightless condition because of the lack of predators. Unfortunately, this characteristic makes these birds extremely vulnerable to predators that were subsequently introduced by humans to the remote habitats of these flightless birds. Consequently, many of the island species are now extinct or endangered.