206 lewis' AMERICAN SPORTSMAN. 



US that it was formerly no very unusual thing to find young 

 Eails on the meadows of the Delaware and Schuylkill. Mr. 

 Bartram, a gentleman well acquainted with this Bird, states that 

 he has often seen and caught young Eails on his own meadows 

 in the month of June ; that he has also seen their nests, usually 

 in a tussock of grass, containing four or five spotted, dirty^ 

 whitish-colored eggs, and that the young ran as soon as they 

 escaped from the shell, being quite black, and glided about 

 through the grass like mice, and during this particular period 

 they resembled the " Corn Crake of England." This circum- 

 stance alone proves that the origin of Soras is not involved in 

 so much obscurity as many persons are anxious to make it ap- 

 pear, and satisfies us that these Birds follow the general laws 

 of nature during the migratory season ; and that some few of 

 them, like other Birds of similar habits, remain with us in these 

 latitudes during the summer, for the purposes of breeding. 



Although our Sportsmen are unwilling to acknowledge the 

 power of Soras to fly any considerable distance, we have several 

 instances on record that go to show that this Bird is capable of 

 great endurance, and of very extended flight, and that in com- 

 mon with other Birds it is possessed of foresight and strength 

 sufficient to enable it to go in quest of distant climes, congenial 

 to its feelings and modes of life. Mr. Skipwith, our consul 

 several years since in Europe, when returning home, off the Capes 

 of Chesapeak, caught several Eails, that alighted on the ship, 

 and being well acquainted with the Bird, declares that they 

 were the same as those usually killed on the James Eiver; and 

 Wilson has also been assured by many gentlemen and captains 

 that they have often met with these Birds between the mainland 

 and the islands.* These facts certainly are sufficient to convince 

 us that Eails are capable of very long flights, and would also 

 lead us to believe that many of them even pass their winters in 

 as remote districts as the- West India Islands. 



* May 10, 1851. We were invited by our friend George H. Bryan, Esq., to 

 go on board of the packet-sliip Michael Angelo, just arrived from Liverpool, to 

 see a Rail, caught at sea some days previous. The captain assures us that the 

 nearest land at the time the Rail was captured, was Cape Sable, distant about 

 300 miles. 



