200 RAIL-SHOOTING. 
the English snipe, and alight at any damp spots for 
a temporary rest wherever the growth of plants 
promises nutriment. 
They are often flushed by the snipe-shooter, to- 
gether with the larger fresh-water rail, rallus elegans, 
and their curious cry resounds along the reedy 
marshes where the wild-fowler pursues the early 
ducks. Nevertheless, they are difficult to flush and 
kill where there is no tide to drive them from their 
- muddy retreats, and where the ground is too heavy 
for a dog; and, comparatively speaking, on fresh 
water, unless the wind shall have caused a tempo- 
rary rise, they are safe from injury. 
Their voices reply with the guttural ‘ krek-krek- 
krek” to the noise of the boat, and tauntingly boast 
of their abundance and their security. Moreover, in 
a new country, where larger game is still plentiful, 
the excellences of the tender but diminutive rail are 
lost sight of by comparison with his more profitable 
compeers ; and except along the Atlantic coast, he 
is known as a game-bird neither to the sportsman 
nor the cook. 
From the fact that he is rarely seen in the spring, 
and does not at that season give his enemies a chance 
to prevent his reaching his nesting-places at the far 
north—but only visits us during a few short weeks in 
the fall, and then is not much exposed, except in cer- 
tain localities—his race will be preserved in undimi- 
nished numbers fer many generations ; the light skifis 
will carry the eager city sportsman along the shores 
of the Delaware, the Hackensack, and the cove on 
