THE RAIL. 221 



men and captains that they have often met with these birds between 

 the mainland and the islands.* These facts, certainly, are suffi- 

 cient to convince us that rails are capable of very long flights, and 

 would also lead us to believe that many of them even pass their 

 winters in as remote districts as the West India Islands. 



SINGULAR CHARACTERISTICS OF THE RAIL. 



The mysterious coming and going of the soras is not the only 

 singular characteristic attributed to the species, as it has been sur- 

 mised years ago, by a gentleman of respectability and Avorth of 

 this city, that rails are subject to bursts of vehement passion, occa- 

 sioning fits analogous to epilepsy, and relates several instances in 

 which this singular efi"ect was produced. We never Avitnessed any 

 thing of this kind ; but some of our sporting friends may have done 

 so in their shooting excursions, and we should be glad to hear from 

 them on the subject. It has also been observed, by "Brewer," 

 that the various species of rails possess a certain poAver of A^en- 

 triloquism, which is more particularly develojoed in the corn-crake 

 of England; and that when crying they often remain stationary, 

 and throAV their voices in opposite directions, at one time as if 

 Avithin a fcAV yards of the spot Avhere the observer is standing, and 

 in a second or tAVO appearing in an entirely different position. 



We should, perhaps, never have noticed this remarkable fact in 

 the rail species, if our attention had not been called to it by the 

 observations of "Brewer." We are induced to place much confi- 

 dence in his views upon this subject, from our intimate knowledge 

 of the habits of the rails of our oaa^u country, which Ave believe also 

 to be somewhat endoAved Avith this singular power; and the mere 

 mention of it in this article may possibly throAV some additional 

 light on the subject. It is not at all impossible that nature may 



* ^Ifiy 10, 1851. — We were invited by our friend George H. Bryan, Esq., to go 

 on board of the packet-ship Michael Angelo, just arrived from Liverpool, to see a 

 rail caught at sea some days previous. The captain assured us that the nearest 

 land at the time the rail was captured was Cape Sable, distant about three hun- 

 dred miles. 



