118 RALLUS CAROLINUS. 



miles from the capes of the Delaware, one night the 

 man at the helm \vas alarmed l>v a sudden crash on 

 deck that broke the glass in tin- binnacle, and put out 

 the light. On examining into the <-au>e, three rail 

 were found on deck, two of whirh were killed on the 

 spot, and the other died soon after. The late Bishop 

 Madison, president of William and Mary College, Vir- 

 ginia, assured me, that a Mr Skipwith, for some time 

 our consul in Europe, on his return to the United 

 States, when upwards of three hundred miles from the 

 capes of the Chesapeake, several rail or soras, I think 

 five or six, came on board, and were caught by the 



ale. Mr Skipwith, being well acquainted with the 

 assured him that they were the very same with 

 those usually killed on James river. I have received 

 like assurances from several other gentlemen and captains 

 of vessels who have met with these birds between the 

 mainland and the islands, so as to leave no doubt on 

 my mind of the fact. For why should it be considered 

 incredible that a bird which can both swim and dive 

 well, and at pleasure fly with great rapidity, as I have 

 myself frequently witnessed, should be incapable of 

 migrating, like so many others, over extensive tracts of 

 land or sea? Inhabiting, as they do, the remote regions 

 of Hudson's Bay, where it is impossible they could 

 subsist during the rigours of their winter, they must 

 either emigrate from thence or perish ; and as the same 

 places in Pennsylvania which abound with them in 

 October are often laid under ice and snow during the 

 winter, it is as impossible that they could e\i-t here 

 in that inclement season ; Heaven has therefore given 

 them, in common with many others, certain prescience 

 of these circumstances, and judgment, as well as strength 

 of flight, suu'u lent to seek more genial climates abounding 

 with their suitable food. 



The rail is nine inches long, and fourteen inches in 

 extent; bill, yellow, hlarkixh towards the point; Ure>, 

 front, crown, chin, and stripe down the throat, black ; 

 line over the eye, cheeks, and breast, fine liyht ash ; 

 sides of the crown, neck, and upper parts generally, 



