218 LEWIS'S AMERICAN SPORTSMAN. 



then pass on to a consideration of some of its habits, more parti- 

 cularly those within the range of our sporting friends, many of 

 which instinctive peculiarities have very justly been termed by 

 casual observers mysterious ; all of which mysteries, however, we 

 hope to make perfectly plain to every one before the close of this 

 article. " The rail is nine inches long, and fourteen in extent ; 

 bill yellow, blackish towards the point ; stripe down the throat 

 black ; sides of the crown, neck, and upper parts generally, olive- 

 brown; streaked with black on a brown-olive ground, and edged 

 with white ; wing plain olive-brown ; tertials streaked with black 

 and long lines of white; tail pointed, dusky olive-brown streaked 

 with black ; lower part of the breast marked with semicircular lines 

 of white on a light ash-ground; belly white; vent brownish-buff; 

 legs, feet, and naked part of the thighs yellowish-green ; eyes red- 

 dish-hazel. The female bird has little or no black on the head; 

 the throat is white, and the plumage generally is of a lighter 

 color, and more inclined to olive, than in the male." 



HISTORY. 



The first thing to be noticed regarding this bird is the circum- 

 stance which renders the term "mysterious" particularly appli- 

 cable to the species. The regular migrations of the feathered 

 tribes are well known to naturalists, and the favored time and 

 peculiar conditions under which these voyages from distant parts 

 are consummated by game-birds have been observed by most 

 sportsmen; but in the case of the sora every one is more or less 

 at a loss, both as to their coming and departure from among us. 

 Whence they spring, or whither they go, both naturalist and sports- 

 man have been equally at fault, as each is unwilling to grant that a 

 bird whose flight is apparently so sluggish and feeble, scarcely rising 

 above the tops of the reeds, should be capable of a long-continued 

 volitation, or be sufficiently strong to encounter the fatigues of a 

 journey from the Far North, like other migratory birds. Neverthe- 

 less, it is an evident fact that rails must come from a distance ; and 

 when they depart from our rivers, they must also travel to still more 



