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same. Young with the black on the head and fore neck wanting. 

 Adult male with the bill yellow, at the base surrounded with black 

 —of which color are the throat and central part of the fore neck ; 

 sides of the neck and fore part of the breast ash gray ; abdomen 

 grayish-white ; sides of the body barred with brownish-black and 

 white ; a few reddish feathers under the tail ; lower tail coverts 

 white ; tail dark brown, margined with lighter; hind part of the 

 back blackish-brown, tipped with olivaceous ; fore part of the back 

 and scapulars olive-brown, the feathers with central spots of black, 

 margined with white ; primaries brown, the outer webs of the first 

 edged with white ; wing coverts tinged with olivaceous ; hind neck 

 olivaceous, spotted with dusky ; crown brown, with a central band 

 of black. Female similar. Length nine inches and three quar- 

 ters, wing four and three-eighths. 



On Long Island this species is not common, though quite well 

 known to the gunners, who now and then meet with it along the 

 overgrown banks of creeks, and, contrary to its usual custom, it_ 

 is sometimes observed on the salt marshes. With us, I have never 

 known it to occur in great numbers, a i'ew only halting, when 

 journeying on to the North, on the wet and miry places covered 

 with tall grass and rushes. The most convenient distance for the 

 sportsmen of New York to indulge in the popular amusement of 

 Rail Shooting, is on the Hackensack River, along the reedy mar- 

 gin of which, during the early part of September, it is at some sea- 

 sons very abundant. The usual manner of shooting Rail on the 

 Hackensack, is similar to that practised by the Long Island gun- 

 ners when in pursuit of Clapper Rail. Exceedingly timid and re- 

 tiring in its habits, the " Sora Rail" seeks seclusion among the 

 rank grass ; and at low water, although it may be within gunshot, 

 it is rarely seen above the tall plants ; and were it not for its shrill 

 and short notes, its habitation, to a casual observer, would not be 

 known. This trait in its habits being known to the sportsman, his 

 excursion is regulated by the state of the tide ; and as this kind of 

 shooting cannot last but a few hours, his visits are so timed as to 

 be on the ground before the tide is in. Having provided himself 

 with a light skiff, and secured the services of a person well skilled, 



