384 



RAIL. 



interstices of the reeds, and you may walk past, and even over them, 

 where there are hundreds, without seeing a single individual. On their 

 first arrival they are generally lean, and unfit for the table ; but as the 

 reeds ripen, they rapidly fatten, and from the 20th of September to the 

 middle of October are excellent, and eagerly sought after. The usual 

 method of shooting them, in this quarter of the country, is as follows. 

 The sportsman furnishes himself with a light batteau, and a stout ex- 

 perienced boatman, with a pole of twelve or fifteen feet long, thickened 

 at the lower end, to prevent it from sinking too deep into the mud. 

 About two hours or so before high-water, they enter the reeds, and each 

 takes his post, the sportsman standing in the bow ready for action, the 

 boatman on the stern seat, pushing her steadily through the reeds. The 

 Rail generally spring singly, as the boat advances, and at a short dis- 

 tance ahead, are instantly shot down, while the boatman, keeping his 

 eye on the spot where the bird fell, directs the boat forward, and picks 

 it up as the gunner is loading. It is also the boatman's business to 

 keep a sharp look-out, and give the word mark, when a Rail springs on 

 either side, without being observed by the sportsman, and to note the 

 exact spot where it falls, until he has picked it up ; for this once lost 

 sight of, owing to the sameness in the appearance of the reeds, is seldom 

 found again. In this manner the boat moves steadily through, and over 

 the reeds, the birds flushing and falling, the gunner loading and firing, 

 while the boatman is pushing and picking up. The sport continues till 

 an hour or two after high-water, when the shallowness of the water, and 

 the strength and weight of the floating reeds, as also the backwardness 

 of the game to spring as the tide decreases, obliges them to return. 

 Several boats are sometimes within a short distance of each other, and 

 a perpetual cracking of musketry prevails along the whole reedy shores 

 of the river. In these excursions it is not uncommon for an active and 

 expert marksman to kill ten or twelve dozens in a tide. They are usually 

 shot singly, though I have known five killed at one discharge of a 

 double-barrelled piece. These instances, however, are rare. 



The flight of these birds among the reeds is usually low ; and, shelter 

 being abundant, is rarely extended to more than fifty or one hundred 

 yards. When winged, and uninjured in their legs, they swim and dive 

 ■with great rapidity, and are seldom seen to rise again. I have several 

 times, on such occasions, discovered them clinging with their feet to the 

 reeds under the water, and at other times skulking under the floating 

 reeds, with their bill just above the surface. Sometimes, when wounded, 

 they dive, and rising under the gunwale of the boat, secrete themselves 

 there, moving round as the boat moves, until they have an opportunity 

 of escaping unnoticed. They are feeble and delicate in everything but 

 the legs, which seem to possess great vigor and energy ; and their 

 bodies being so remarkably thin, or compressed, as to be less than an 



