CAROLINA RAIL. 211 



Birds.* On first arriving, from the labor and privation 

 incident to their migrations, they are lean, and little valued 

 as food J- but as their favorite natural harvest begins to swell 

 out and approach maturity, they rapidly fatten ; and, from 

 the middle of September to the same time in October, they 

 are in excellent order for the table, and eagerly sought 

 after wherever a gun can be obtained and brought into 

 operation. 



Walking by the borders of these reedy rivers, in ordinary 

 seasons, you hear, in all directions, the crowding Rails 

 squeaking like young puppies. If a stone be thrown in 

 amongst them, there is a general outcry through the reeds, a 

 confused and reiterated 'huh 'huh 'huh 'h'h 'h'h, resounds 

 from the covered marsh, and is again renewed by the timid 

 throng, on the discharge of a gun or any other sudden noise 

 within their hearing. The Rails, however numerous, are 

 scarcely visible, unless it be at or near to high water ; for 

 when the tide is down, they have the art so well to conceal 

 themselves among the reeds, that you may walk past and 

 even over them, where there are hundreds, without seeing 

 probably a single individual. 



The flight of the Rails, while confined among the rice 

 reeds, is low, feeble and fluttering, with the legs hanging 

 down, as if the effort were unnatural and constrained, which 

 may, no doubt, at times, be produced by the extreme cor- 

 pulency which they attain in a favorable season for food ; 

 yet, occasionally, they will rise to a considerable height, 

 and cross considerable streams without any reluctance or 

 difficulty ; so that how^ever short may be their w ings, the 

 muscles by which they are set in motion are abundantly 

 sufficient to provide them the means of pursuing the de- 

 liberate stages of their migratory course. Wherever the 



* The name given to the Bobolinks and their brood, when in their Sparrow dress 

 (Icterus agripennis.) 



