136 KRIDER'S SPORTING ANECDOTES. 



ment of our friend, and in the experience of 

 Dennis Welsh. As for the other man's theory, 

 that carries conviction off its feet ; that speaks 

 for itself. 



The rail is said to be a ventriloquist; very 

 respectable authority is also adduced for that 

 assertion, and, with a simple qualification, we 

 are disposed to believe it is a fact. 



The lordly lion of the desert the banded fox 

 of "the land of ice and snow" the katydids 

 which sing so merrily in the forest; the little 

 cricket which chirps away at home in the 

 porch, but cunningly creeps in towards the 

 hearth when the nights grow chill each and 

 all possess, in some degree, the power of de- 

 ceiving the ear. We have shown in a former 

 page how a dog became a somnambulist, and 

 are now ready to endorse the assertion, that the 

 whole family of the rails are travelling ventrilo- 

 quists. One thing is certain, if they are capable 

 of counterfeiting death so cleverly, and of throw- 

 ing their voices into any corner they please, 

 they are accomplished birds, and it will not 

 do to stigmatise them "ninny hammers" and 

 "simpletons" any longer; we must hasten to 

 amend that. There is more point, as well as 

 magnanimity, in bestowing upon them the 



