THE RAIL. 265 



remote parts, if perchance they do not (as has been sagely sur- 

 mised by some enthusiastic inquirers after truth) bury themselves 

 in the mud of our river-banks or become changed into frogs. 

 But who was ever so fortunate as to dig up a petrified rail or 

 come across an unfinished metamorphosis of this description? 

 Wilson, however, informs us that this latter theory, ridiculous 

 as it may seem, had its originator and firm supporter, who boldly 

 asserted that the transmigration of the sora into the frog was 

 the true secret of the sudden disappearance of this bird; and, 

 moreover, that he, the author of the strange notion, had in his 

 possession for several days an animal of an extraordinary kind, 

 neither a rail nor a frog, in fact, something between the two ; but, 

 unfortunately for the progress of science, not being accustomed to 

 captivity and the over-kindness which was lavished upon it by ita 

 lucky owner, the animal died before the change was complete, 

 and this remarkable lusus naturce was thus lost to the investiga- 

 tions of the curious in such matters. 



What rendered this singular hypothesis more striking, and con 

 firmed the originator in his preconceived notions, was the circum- 

 stance of the frogs generally ceasing to croak about the time of 

 the coming of the rails in our rivers. This opinion, however, has 

 gained but little ground, as few persons are to be found so credu- 

 lous as to place any faith in a notion so extremely absurd. There 

 are several species of rails known in England. They arrive there 

 in the spring in the same mysterious manner which they do with us 

 in the summer, and depart at the first approach of frost for more 

 southern climes, in a like unceremonious style, seldom or never 

 being seen on their passage either to or from the countries where 

 at certain seasons they abound. So very shy is this bird, that, 

 although almost every meadow and clover-field in England re- 

 sounds during the spring with the eternal crek crek of the land- 

 rail, very few are shot, and the bird itself is scarcely known to the 

 country-people, notwithstanding they constantly hear its well- 

 known crek crek whenever they go into the fields. For such is 

 the secret, skulking, and solitary habits of this little bird, that it 



