UPLAND SHOOTING. 279 



sylvania, which abound with them in October, are often laid 

 under ice and snow during the winter, it is as impossible that 

 thev could exist here in that inclement season. Heaven has, 

 therefore, given them, in common with many others, certain 

 prescience of these circumstances, and judgment, as well as 

 sti-ength of flight, sufllcient to seek more genial cHmate, abound- 

 ing with the suitable food. 



" During the greater part of the months of September and 

 October, the market of Philadelphia is abundantly supplied with 

 Rail, which are sold from half a dollar to a dollar per dozen. 

 Soon after the 20th of October, at which time our first smart 

 frosts generally take place, these birds move oft' to the South. 

 In \'irginia they usually remain until the first week in Novem- 

 ber. 



" Since the above was written, I have received from Mr. 

 George Ord, of Philadelphia, some curious particulars relative 

 to this bird, which, as they are new, and come from a gentle- 

 man of respectability, are worthy of being recorded, and merit 

 further investigation. 



" ' My personal experience,' says Mr. Ord, ' has made me ac- 

 quainted with a fact in the history of the Rail, which, perhaps, 

 is not generally known, — and I shall as briefly as possible com- 

 municate it to you. Some tirne in the autumn of the year 1809, 

 as I was walking in a yard, after a severe shower of rain, I per- 

 ceived the feet of a bird projecting from a spout. I pulled it 

 out, and discovered it to be a Rail, very vigorous, and in per- 

 fect health. The bird was placed in a small room, on a gun 

 case, and I was amusing myself with it, when in the act of 

 pointing my finger at it, it suddenly sprang forward, apparently 

 much irritated, fell to the floor, and stretching out its feet, and 

 bending its neck, until the head nearly touched the back, be- 

 came to all appearance hfeless. Thinkiufj the fall had killed 

 the bird, I took it up, and began to lament my rashness, in pro- 

 voking it. In a few minutes it again breathed, and it was some 

 time before it perfectly recovered from the fit into which it now 

 appeared evident it had fallen. I jilaced the Rail in a room 



