 Like other rails , this species is difficult to observe as it moves through the sawgrass , and may crouch to avoid detection , but is not usually particularly wary . When disturbed , it may run a short distance and then stop with its tail raised and the conspicuous white undertail showing . Despite its short wings , the Zapata rail may not be completely flightless . On morphological grounds it would be classed as a flightless species , since the pectoral girdle and wing are as reduced as in other species of rails that are considered to be flightless , but Bond reported that he saw one flutter about ten feet across a canal . 
