UPLAND SHOOTING. 283 



after which they soon enter those portions of the country in 

 which they breed, and spend a short but agreeable season. 



" Every person acquainted with the general movements of 

 birds, either during the spring, when they pass northward, or 

 the autumnal months, when they are on their way to milder 

 climes, is aware that at the former period their anxiety to reach 

 the breeding place is much greater than that which they feel at . 

 any other period. Thus, in its movement southward, the Sora, 

 like all other Rails, when returning with its progeny, which are 

 yet feeble, and unable to undergo much fatigue, proceeds 

 considora])ly shjwer than in spring ; hence its appearance in 

 autumn, in multitudes, in various places, where it is enticed, by 

 an abundance of food and comparative security, to tany for 

 some time and recruit its strength. Thus in September and 

 part of October, the Sora is found in great numbers on the 

 borders of our great lakes, feeding on wild oats, and on the 

 reedy margins of the rivers of our middle districts. Several 

 natural causes prevent birds of this species from following the 

 seacuast of the United States while migrating, either in spring or 

 in autumn, the principal of which is the absence of their favor- 

 ite Zizania marshes, which are but very rarely to be met with 

 to the east of the State of New- York. This is probably the 

 cause of the great rarity of this species in Massachusetts, while, 

 80 far as I know, none are ever found to the eastward of that 

 State. These observations are corroborated by those of my 

 friend, Thomas McCulloch, of Pictou, who never met with one 

 of these birds during many years' residence in that part of Nova 

 Scotia. 



" Having seen flocks of Soras winging their way close over 

 the waters of the gulf of Mexico, and between Cape Florida and 

 the main shores of the Carolinas, in the month of Ajiril, when 

 they were moving directly toward Cape Lookout, I have very 

 little doubt that many return in the same track, in the end of 

 October, when the young, well-fed and strengthened, are able 

 to follow their parents on wing, even across that wide expanse 

 of water. I shall now dismiss this part of tlie sub cct by add- 



