RAILS. 339 



One of their ordinary stratagems for avoiding capture is 

 to sink into the water near a bunch of sedges, until only 

 the bill, and, sometimes, a part of the head is exposed. 

 Eails are only shot at high tides, as a rule, owing to 

 the difficulty of reaching their haunts without boats, and 

 though the shooting may not last more than two or three 

 hours, it is not unusual for an experienced sjiortsman 

 to bag from one hundred to three hundred in that time. 

 Eail shooting is carried on along the Atlantic Coast from 

 Connecticut to Florida, but it only reaches perfection on 

 the Delaware Elver, where the birds are so numerous 

 that any ordinary shot can make a large bag, provided he 

 commands the services of a good "boat pusher" who is 

 acquainted with the marshes. These ' ' pushers " are better 

 for retrieving dead and wounded bu'ds than any dog, for 

 they rarely lose one, though a dozen may be lying in the 

 marsh at the same time. All shooting ceases when the 

 tide commences to ebb; and then the sportsmen who have 

 taken part in the battue meet to compare notes and find 

 out which of their number has the distinguished honor 

 of being ''high boat," and to congratulate him on his 

 success. More than two thousand rails are frequently 

 shot on one of these expeditions, besides several ducks 

 and reed birds. The king rail, or fresh-water marsh hen 

 {Rallus elegans), which is the largest of the family, fre- 

 quents fresh-water marshes, though it is sometimes found 

 on salt marshes. It lives largely on wild oats, and being 

 loth to use its wings, it depends on its legs to escape dan- 

 ger on land or water. This species is of a general olive- 

 brown hue, the eyelids being whitish. The clapper rail, or 

 salt-water marsh hen {R. longii'osiris), resembles the pre- 

 ceding in general color, except that it is not so bright. It 

 is also smaller, and equally as averse to using its wings. 

 The red rail, or Virginia corncrake {E. virginianns), 

 looks like the king rail, but is not near so large, as it 

 only measures from eight to ten inches in length. It is 



