TOPOGRAPHY OP THE DISTRICT. 19 



indifferent marksmanship to bring it down, as a rule; still, sometimes 

 when the birds are wild, before they become heavy with fat, it is not 

 such an easy matter to bring- them to bag. In the talk among Rail 

 shooters it is the regular thing to ask, "Have yon missed a bird to-day?" 

 And it is looked upon as somewhat of a disgrace if the reply is in the 

 affirmative. Nevertheless, we venture the assertion that few ever go 

 on the marsh for a day's Rail shooting without missing not one only 

 but several birds in the course of the day. Then, too, finding the bird 

 after it is shot is not a simple matter, and very many are thus lost after 

 being undoubtedly killed. The reeds of the wild rice grow to a height 

 of from 4 to 6 feet, and though usually broken down sufficiently to give 

 a clear view, they present so uniform an appearance that when a bird 

 drops it disappears in the foliage, and if the eye be taken off the spot 

 without " marking," the chances are greatly against its being found. 

 " Marking " and gathering in tire birds belong to the duties of the pusher, 

 and that he should do these things well is fully as necessary to a success- 

 ful day as that he should be able to propel the boat, or that the sports- 

 man should be a good shot. 



The mode of " marking" a shot bird is to fix in the mind something 

 about the place where it falls which differs from its surroundings — a 

 very tall reed, a broken stem, a wanquapin leaf, etc. — anything, however 

 slight (and it is wonderful how slight a mark will suffice for an experi- 

 enced pusher), that will serve to identify the place. The importance of 

 this appears still greater when it is remembered that the pusher must 

 always wait after a shot for the sportsman to reload, and frequently it 

 will happen that before he reaches the spot where the first bird fell, six 

 or eight more birds will be flushed and killed, each of which must be 

 marked in like manner. It is not an uncommon thing to have as many 

 as ten or a dozen birds down in the reeds and water before one has been 

 picked up. 



If any interested reader wishes to get a good day's Rail shooting in 

 the District of Columbia, let him make his arrangements to try it upon 

 the 1st day of September. On this day the law protecting the birds 

 expires ; up to this time they have not been disturbed, and are conse- 

 quently very abundant upon the open marshes. Wait for one week and 

 it will be as difficult to secure one dozen birds as it is on September 1 

 to bag ten dozen. The boat and pusher must be engaged a week or two 

 before the appointed time. This can be done either at the eastern end 

 of Benning's Bridge or at the Lower (Navy- Yard) Bridge. The former 

 is preferable, for it is immediately surrounded by marshes, and no time 

 is lost. The boat which is used in Rail shooting is of peculiar construc- 

 tion, and especially adapted to forcing a way through the tangled reeds. 

 In local vernacular it is a " skiff," and is a ticklish-looking affair for two 

 men to navigate in standing up. And indeed it is a ticklish affair, as 

 the greenhorn will be likely to learn in his first attempt at Rail shoot- 

 ing. The craft is usually about 10 feet long by 3 feet wide across the 



