300 The Sora Rail 



change was at hand, and secured themselves from its influence by a 

 prompt movement under night." 



Now we know that the Rails fly southward after dark. They often 

 dash themselves against lighthouses, poles, telegraph-wires, and buildings, 

 and one has even been known to impale itself on a barbed-wire fence. 



The little wings, which erstwhile could hardly raise the birds above 

 the grass-tops, now carry them high and far. Some cross the seas to 

 distant Bermuda, and they occasionally alight on vessels hundreds of 

 miles at sea. They have been taken on the western mountains, even as 

 high as 12,500 feet; in the sage-brush of the desert, and on the cliffs 

 of the Isthmus of Darien. 



The food of Rails never has been carefully studied. 

 Food We know that they are fond of many kinds of insects 



and worms, and that they eat snails and other sorts of 

 aquatic life ; also parts of water-plants. The Sora, like many other 

 swamp-birds, feeds largely in autumn on the seeds of wild rice. This 

 makes them so fat that they become a dainty morsel for the epicure, and 

 are pursued without mercy by market-hunters and "sportsmen" of all 

 colors, ages, and classes. In the fresh-water meadows they are some- 

 times driven from cover by dogs, and many are shot in this manner. 



Shooting them in their slow, fluttering flight in the daytime is about 

 as difficult as hitting a tin can floating down a brook, and a good marks- 

 man rarely misses one. The greatest slaughter is perpetrated on the 

 tide- water marshes of the Middle Atlantic States, where gunners shoot 

 almost anything that flies. When the tide rises high 



Merciless enou gh to allow small boats to float over the marshes, 

 Slaughter . ... n .. 



boats are poled into every refuge of the poor Rails, 



and, as they seek safety in flight, they are shot down without mercy. 



Hundreds of thousands are thus killed whenever the tide is high. 

 The negroes of the South pursue a similar sport at night, blinding the 

 birds with torches, and striking them down with poles. This wholesale 

 killing has greatly decreased the Sora Rail in New England, but the 

 species is very prolific, and is still numerous in many marshes in the 

 West and Northwest. 



The draining of lakes and marshes for farming purposes, which 

 breaks up their breeding-grounds, will inevitably reduce their numbers 

 still more, year by year, so that stringent protection will be necessary to 

 maintain the species. 



Classification and Distribution 



The Sora belongs to the Order Paludicola, or marsh-birds, Suborder Ralli, 

 Family Rallidce, and Subfamily Rallincc, which includes the Rails and Crakes. It 

 ranges over most of North America, breeds from central British Columbia, and 

 the valleys of the North Saskatchewan and St. Lawrence rivers south to southern 

 California, Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Illinois, and New Jersey; and it winters 

 from northern California, Illinois, and South Carolina, to Venezuela and Peru. 



This and other Educational Leaflets are for sale, at o cents each, by the National Association of 

 Audubon Societies, 1974 Broadway, New York City. Lists given on request. 



