资料来源 : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
Skitty \Skit"ty\, n. [Cf. {Skittish}.] (Zo["o]l.)
A rail; as, the water rail (called also {skitty cock}, and
{skitty coot}); the spotted crake ({Porzana maruetta}), and
the moor hen. [Prov. Eng.]
Rail \Rail\, n. [F. r[^a]le, fr. r[^a]ler to have a rattling in
the throat; of German origin, and akin to E. rattle. See
{Rattle}, v.] (Zo["o]l.)
Any one of numerous species of limicoline birds of the family
{Rallid[ae]}, especially those of the genus {Rallus}, and of
closely allied genera. They are prized as game birds.
Note: The common European water rail ({Rallus aquaticus}) is
called also {bilcock}, {skitty coot}, and {brook
runner}. The best known American species are the
clapper rail, or salt-marsh hen ({Rallus lonqirostris},
var. {crepitans}); the king, or red-breasted, rail ({R.
elegans}) (called also {fresh-water marshhen}); the
lesser clapper, or Virginia, rail ({R. Virginianus});
and the Carolina, or sora, rail ({Porzana Carolina}).
See {Sora}.
{Land rail} (Zo["o]l.), the corncrake.