268 



FRANK FORESTER S FIELD SPORTS. 



RAIL; AND RAIL SHOOTING. 



keep it 

 with uo 

 alliance, 



HIS singular and delicious little bird 

 1-^ so peculiar in its character and 

 ^ ^%i. 1'<i''its, although of an order which 

 tiHoids several species of our most 

 cmed game, viz.: Grallaforcs. and 

 the mode of pursuing and shooting it 

 ■^ so distinct from any other kinds of 

 poit, that I have judged it best to 

 under a head entirely separate from other field sports, 

 one of which, in truth, has it the smallest connexion or 



" Rallus Carolinus — Ortygometra Carolinus — the Carolina Rail — 

 the Sora Rail — vulgo, the Rail. 



" Male 9|.14. 



" Passes across the United States, both by the interior and 

 along the coast. Some breed in New Jersey. Rarely seen 

 east of Massachusetts. Extremely abundant in autumn on the 

 Delaware and other streams furnished with wild oats. A few 

 reside in Florida and Louisiana in winter. 



" Adult male. 



" Bill shorter than the head, rather stout, deep, compressed, 

 tapering. Upper mandible with the dorsal outline nearly 

 straight, being slightly convex toward the end, the ridge flattish 

 for a very short space at the base, very slightly extended on the 

 forehead, narrow in the rest of its extent ; the sides convex 

 toward the end, the edges sharp, inflected, with a slight sinus 



