132 BIRD NAMES. [No. 37. 



Known in New England very generally, and southward to 

 ]!^ew Jersey, as RAIL simply, this being occasionally heard here 

 and there as far south as Florida. Giraud, in his Birds of Long 

 Island, 1844, speaks of its being "knoAvn to the gunners by the 

 name of ENGLISH RAIL," and De Kay, same date. Zoology of 

 New York, mentions the latter name as one used in the South. 



In New Jersey the gunners almost universally refer. to the 

 species as RAIL-BIRD, the word bird having been added, I sup- 

 pose, to conform better with the name reed-bird,* these two 

 species (the reed and rail birds) being commonly shot in one 

 and the same reedy swamp, and together sent to market. 



At Salem, Mass., it is distinguished from Long-billed Rail 

 No. 36, as CHICKEN-BILLED RAIL or CHICKEN-BILL, and at East 

 Haddam, Conn., it is the MEADOW CHICKEN (or Meadow Chick), 

 the name Rail, though now in general use there, having been 

 introduced by city sportsmen, who only a few years ago dis- 

 covered that the East Haddam marshes were worth visiting. 



At Washington, D. C, and Pocomoke City (Worcester Co.), 

 Md., ORTOLAN (see foot-note concerning "reed-bird"). Gener- 

 ally known in Virginia and southward to southern part of North 

 Carolina as SORA and SOREE. Catesby, in his Nat. Hist. Car- 

 olina, Florida, etc., 1731, gives this latter form (Soree), and 

 Burnaby, describing travels "in the years 1759 and 1760," terms 

 it SORUS, and speaks of meeting with the bird in Virginia dur- 

 ing October, " at the tables of most of the planters, breakfast, 

 dinner, and supper," and states in a note that " in several parts 

 of Virginia the antient custom of eating meat at breakfast still 

 continues." 



In southern North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, 

 COOT, the bird being unrecognized by many by any other title. 

 (For other " coots," see Nos. 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33.) 



* Our Reed-bird — DoUchonyx oryzivorus — termed also Bobolink, Rice-bird, 

 Skunk Blackbird, Ortolan, etc., is not included in this list. It is shot only 

 for the "pot," having nothing more gamy about it than the English Sparrow- 

 has. I will add that I have nowiiere found it called " Ortolan" but in print, 

 and that the far-famed and delicious little Ortolan of Europe, from which the 

 name is borrowed, is known to scientists as Emberiza liortulana. 



