BIRDS HUNTED FOR FOOD OR SPORT. 209 



is known about their habits and food. They walk or run 

 rapidly over half-submerged vegetation, swim as lightly as 

 a Duck in passing across from one cover to another, and slip 

 easily through their covered ways, even in the night, for they 

 are abroad more or less at night as well as by day. The hesi- 

 tating, heavy flight of this Rail would seem to make a long 

 migration difficult, if not impossible; nevertheless, long flights 

 are taken yearly to the south. Rails in migration appear 

 to fly very low, and many are killed by flying against tele- 

 graph wires. They cross large rivers and bays in their flights, 

 which are made under cover of night. 



This Rail feeds on beetles and other insects, and its food 

 also includes caterpillars, earthworms, slugs, snails and such 

 small forms of animal life as it finds on fresh marshes, for 

 it rarely appears on salt marshes. As autumn approaches, 

 seeds of various kinds are added to the bill of fare. 



