THEIR APPEARANCE AND HABITS. 247 



When on the wing the rail appears too heavy to 

 accomplish more than the shortest flight, while the 

 limbs hang down as if they were dragging their 

 proprietor to the ground by their weight. 



It may be imagined how easy a shot the rail 

 then presents for the sportsman ; but this tardiness 

 of locomotion only exists for a few seconds after 

 taking wing and when near the surface of the ground, 

 for when a certain elevation is obtained, such for 

 instance as is required for distant flights, its pro- 

 gress through the air is both sustained and rapid. 



Migratory in the strict acceptation of the term, rails 

 accomplish journeys of great length, which are always 

 performed in the night, from which circumstance have 

 doubtless arisen many of the marvellous stories of 

 their mysterious performances told by the ignorant. 

 Being peculiarly sensitive to cold weather, they do 

 not come north until a return of frost for the season 

 has ceased to be probable, while the journey to the 

 southward is undertaken at such a time in autumn 

 as will enable them to avoid all possibility of similar 

 mishaps. Thus they do not remain over three months 

 on their northern feeding-grounds, the remainder of 

 the year being spent in the mangrove-swamps of 

 Central America and reed-margined lagoons of 

 southern Mexico. 



On their influx into their summer retreats, they 

 are very low in flesh, and impart to the observer an 

 impression of suffering from extreme weakness. 

 Only a few days, however, are required for their 



