Size: Length; 50cm. Weight; up to 1000g.

Habitat and distribution: Spain, France, Sardinia, Algeria and Tunisia.

Breeding: Females lay in communal nests, all group members care for young. Lay up to 5 eggs which are incubated for around 27 days, by both sexes.

Diet: Shoots, leaves, roots, flowers, seeds of aquatic plants, molluscs, insects, fish, reptiles, small rodents and birds.

• 133 species make up the Rallidae family (rails, gallinules and coots).
• This family contains the smallest flightless bird in the world, the Inaccessible Rail, weighing in at only 40g. Incidentally the largest rail species, the Takahe, is also flightless (weighing just over 3kg).
• 32 species of this family are flightless or practically flightless; all 32 species live on Islands without predators.
• Rails have strong legs and are very good climbers.