The black rail was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae.

[2] Gmelin based his description on the "Least water hen" that had been described and illustrated in 1760 by the English naturalist George Edwards in his Gleanings of Natural History.

[11] Genetic data is lacking for most members of the complex, except the Galapagos crake which diverged from the North American black rail about 1.2 million years ago.

High marsh habitats provide an ideal environment for the Black Rail, as it spends most of its time concealed within the vegetation found in this area.

These wetter parts of the marsh serve as essential foraging grounds where the Black Rail can find mud-dwelling invertebrates.

The high marsh habitat is characterized by large stretches of grasses interspersed with patches of open salt panne.

The salt panne is typically dry for the majority of the year but experiences periodic flooding during extreme spring tides.

The black rail is rarely seen and prefers running in the cover of the dense marsh vegetation to flying.

[19] The wetland habitat that the black rail depends on has steadily declined through the last several decades, due to draining for development and conversion to agricultural land.

[9] In addition to declining populations and increasing threats, the black rail is also impacted by the lack of scientific studies available.

They are preyed upon by many avian (hawks, egrets, and herons) and mammalian (foxes and cats) predators, and rely on the cover of thick marsh vegetation for protection.