284 FRANK forester's FIELD SPORTS. 



ing in confirmation of their capability of protracted flight, that 

 some of these 'birds, when accidentally separated from their 

 flock, have supported themselves on vs^ing until they have met 

 with vessels several hundred miles from land ; and facts of this 

 kind have been announced by persons of well-known respec- 

 tability. 



" During the autumnal months, a goodly number of Soras 

 are found in the rice fields and fresh water marshes of the 

 Carolinas. Sometimes, also, they have been shot in salt water 

 marshes, in spring, while on their northward migration. At 

 this period they are silent until forced to fly. In those States, 

 none are seen during summer, very few, it appears, remain in 

 any part of the middle districts. My friend, John Bachman, 

 however, was shown some eggs of this bird, that had been 

 found in the meadows below Philadelphia ; and whilst I was 

 on a shooting expedition for Woodcock, in company with ray 

 friend, Edward Harris, Esq., my son shot some young birds, 

 scarcely fledged, and shortly afterward, an adult female. John 

 Bachman met with a nest on the shores of the Hudson, and I 

 saw two in the marshes of Lake Champlain." — Audubon^s 

 American Ornithology. 



I have judged it but proper to extend both my quotations on 

 the habits, and my own observations on the shooting of this 

 bird, to some length, as the first are very peculiar, and the lat- 

 ter affords a sport, which though I think it for my own part, 

 rather a tame amusement, is still followed with much eagerness 

 and zest by sportsmen, especially on the Delaware, and on the 

 great Western Lakes, where the bird, as we have seen, abounds. 



The United States contain many other species of Rail, most 

 of which are at times shot by the sportsman, while in pursuit ot 

 one kind or another of aquatic fowl, but none of them are suffi- 

 ciently abundant, in certain spots or at certain seasons, unless 

 it be perhaps the bird commonly known as the Mud-Hen, to be 

 made the object of especial pursuit. 



