22 AVIFAUNA COLUMBIANA. 



vision. The pusher cries " Mark," when he wheels and fires. Nojj has 

 the pusher a sinecure; he advances, stops for loading, goes forward, 

 backwards, zigzagging, retrieving the game; and so it continues until 

 the retreating tide forces the skiff from the marsh. 



Rail shooting is often termed " tame sport," and so it is as far as mere 

 skill in shooting is concerned when compared with Quail shooting. But, 

 after all, it is certainly exciting and enjoyable, especially to the city 

 sportsman, to whom an all-day tramp after Quail is very likely to prove 

 exhausting or even painful. 



Here there is no fatigue, no long tramp in the hot sun, only the labor 

 of standing and balancing one's self in the quivering canoe, twisting to 

 the right or left or backward to get a shot, Avhile the position of the legs 

 must remain unchanged; one experiences the excitement of constant 

 shooting; birds are almost always on the wing; and, withal, the shoot- 

 ing lasts but three hours, not long enough for one to become satiated. 



Since the great increase in the size of these marshes, the Rail shoot- 

 ing is much better than it was twenty years ago.* 



The Carolina Hails when feeding upon the wild rice become very fat 

 and acquire a delicious flavor, for which they are much prized by epi- 

 cures. Their flesh is soft, however, and they readily become tainted if 

 the day is hot. 



Thus far the description of the Eastern Branch region has been con- 

 fined to the river and its marshes. The borders of the river are deserv- 

 ing of a few word . These we extend to take in the east bank of the 

 Potomac from the District line opposite Alexandria to the mouth of 

 the Anacostia River at Giesboro. This portion of the District is not 

 deserving of any extended notice. The banks of the river are nearly 

 level for some distance back, and then gradually rise to the terrace of 

 hills upon which the Government Insane Asylum stands. 



In the "way of birds nothing peculiar is found. Along the river bank 

 a few King-fishers and Sandpipers and a colony of Bank Swallows ; far- 

 ther back some favorable spots for Woodcock and Snipe, and in the 

 woodland the usual woodland birds. 



Pursuing the eastern bank of the stream to the northward we find a 

 range of hills extending from the Insane Asylum through Good Hope 

 Hill to Benning's Bridge, a distance of three and a half miles. The ap- 

 proach from the river to this rising land is gradual over a distance of 

 from half a mile to a mile, the intervening land being the most fertile 

 in the District, and celebrated for the excellence of its market gardens. 

 In this hilly region are found several tracts of wild woods undergrown 

 with thickets of laurel (Kalmia latifolki). in which the Ruffed Grouse, 

 called u Pheasants" (Bonasa umbella), breed and are at home. Here 



* The most extensive wild-rice marshes found in the East are upon the Patuxent 

 River, 18 miles southeast of Washington, -where at several points boats and pushers 

 may be obtaiued. 



