328 THE RAILS AND REED BIRDS 



abundant, and are usually found at long intervals on 

 the same grounds frequented by the smaller varieties. 

 A bag of one hundred or more of the smaller birds is 

 not uncommon in a day, or on one tide, but I doubt if 

 anyone ever made a bag of any size of the larger 

 birds. I have never killed many of the larger birds 

 in a day. 



All the rails have long, slim bodies, and seem to be 

 built especially to move quickly through the rushes 

 and wild rice where they are always found. They 

 run with remarkable rapidity, and it is difficult to put 

 them up. The rails have short, rounded wings and fly 

 with an apparent effort just above the tall reeds, often 

 dropping back into them after going but a few yards. 

 So labored is their flight that it is not easy to under- 

 stand how they make their long migration north and 

 south. That they are capable of a long-sustained 

 flight is evidenced by their alighting on ships miles 

 from the land. 



The rails are the easiest of all marks that fly from 

 the sportsman's gun. 



The season for rail shooting is the early autumn. 

 The method of pursuit is everywhere the same. The 

 sportsman takes his stand in a light, flat-bottomed 

 boat, which is propelled through the rushes by a punter 

 with a long pole. The start, on tide-water, is made as 

 soon as the water is high enough to float the boat in 

 the wild rice, and as the boat glides along the birds 

 are driven into the air at short range, and since they 

 are usually very abundant the shooting is very rapid. 



Dr. Lewis, who wrote of this sport when only muz- 

 zle-loading guns were used, advised the taking of two 



