RAIL-SHOOTING. 323 



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 fe\v short weeks in 

 the fall, and then is not much exposed, except in cer- 

 tain localities his race Avill be preserved in undimi- 

 nished numbers for many generations ; the light skiifs 

 will carry the eager city sportsman along the shores 

 of the Delaware, the Hackensack, and the cove on 



