King rail
This rail forages in shallow water near cover and eats mainly aquatic insects and crustaceans. It forages by probing the mud while moving around in shallow water.
Water rail
Introduced predators are a threat to vulnerable island populations. In addition to the extirpation of the Icelandic race, mink have been responsible for marked declines in the populations of water rails and other ground-nesting birds in the Hebrides, where the mainly fish-eating otter was the only native carnivore. The mink derived from fur farms on Lewis, from whence they spread through Harris, North Uist and South Uist. Mink and ferret eradication programmes have enabled the rail to return to islands including Lewis and Harris, and further projects are ongoing or planned on the Scottish mainland. Locally, habitat may be affected by the drainage of marshes, canalisation of water courses, urban encroachment, and by pollution.