THE SORA RAIL 89 



way and the pleasures of Coney Island or similar places; 

 but to one who truly knows and has learned to understand 

 something better their appeal, which only intoxicates and 

 tortures tired nerves and over-wrought brains to madness, 

 in no way compares with nature's evening entertain- 

 ments. 



Ka-weet-eep, Ka-weet-eep-eep-eep-eep, Cheep-cheep- 

 cheep-cheep came again nearer and nearer and more ear- 

 nest than before, and a fantom bird darted round the 

 foot of a stump and went racing over the sand, picking up 

 a worm here and a bug there and, like a streak, whisked 

 out onto the moss and lily pads, never stopping for an in- 

 stant except to snatch a snail from the stem of a cat-tail 

 or a crawfish from the shallows beneath. A queer appari- 

 tion indeed he made with his legs so slim and so long that 

 he appeared to be running on stilts, and his delicate, slen- 

 der finger-like toes so nimble that they could take hold of 

 the driftwood and lily pads as easily as a squirrel clings 

 to his tree. Even more remarkable was his body — com- 

 pressed tmtil it reminded me of a croppy or a sunfish. The 

 Creator truly has adapted each creature to the life he is to 

 live. The goose, the loon, and the rest of the swimmers 

 have a broad, flat breast and body so that they will float 

 easily over the surface of the water. Their body is usually 

 broader than it is deep. This creature which had so sud- 

 denly appeared from nowhere clearly was made for racing. 

 His body was compressed until it seemed to split the air 

 like a knife blade. He was a sora rail. To one who is 

 unfamiliar with these birds the expression ^^thin as a rail" 

 means very little. When we used to split rails from the 

 oak trees and build rail fences, I could never quite under- 

 stand why things were spoken of as being as "thin as a 



