270 FRANK forester's FIELD SPORTS. 



black and greyish-white, as are the lateral feathers of the rump ; 

 those of the abdomen reddish-yellow. 



" Length to end of tail, 9,^|t inches; to end of wings, 81; to 

 end of claws, 12 ; extent of wings, 14 ; wing from flexure, iy^ ; 

 tail, 2 ; bill along the ridge, || ; along the edge of the lower 

 mandible, Jt; 5 tarsus, Ij^; its middle toe, l/g 5 its claw, 42V. 

 Weight, 7 oz. 



" Adult female. 



" The female differs considerably from the male in coloring. 

 The naked paits and iris are similar, as are the upper parts 

 generally ; but the black around the base of the bill, on the 

 head and fore-neck, is wanting, the fore parts of the head being 

 light-brown, the chin whitish, the sides of the neck light grey- 

 ish-brown. The white lines of the back are duller, and the 

 dark bands of the sides of a lighter tint. 



" Young male. 



" The young male, after its first moult, is intemiediate in color 

 between the adult male and the female, but more like the lat- 

 ter, the black on the head and fore-neck appearing in spots, 

 and the sides of the neck being nearly as in the female." — 

 Audubon's Birds of America. 



"Of all our land or water fowl, perhaps none afford the sports- 

 man more agreeable amusement or a more delicious repast 

 than the little bird now before us. This amusement is indeed 

 temporary, lasting only two or three hours in the day, for four 

 or five weeks in each year, but as it occurs in the most agree- 

 able and temperate of our seasons, is attended with little or no 

 fatigue to the gunner, and is frequently successful, it attracts 

 numerous followers, and is pursued in such places as the birds 

 frequent, with great eagemess and enthusiasm, 



" The natural history of the Rail, or as it is called in Virginia 

 the Sora, and in South Carolina the Coot, is to the most of our 

 sportsmen involved in profound and inexplicable mystery. It 

 comes they know not whence, and goes they know not where. 

 No one can detect their first moment of arrival ; yet all at once 



