THE EAIL. 207 



SINGULAR CHARACTERISTICS OF THE RAIL. 



The mysterious coming and going of the Sora is not the only- 

 singular characteristic attributed to the species, as it has been 

 surmised years ago, by a gentleman of respectability and worth 

 of this city, that Rails are subject to bursts of vehement passion, 

 occasioning fits, analogous to epilepsy, and relates several in- 

 stances in which this singular effect was produced. We never 

 witnessed anything of this kind, but some of our sporting 

 friends may have done so in their shooting excursions, and we 

 should be glad to hear from them on the subject {see "Wilson). 

 It has also been observed by " Brewer," that the various species of 

 Rails possessed a certain power of Ventriloquism, which is more 

 particularly developed in the Corn Crake of England; and that 

 when crying, they often remain stationary, and throw their 

 voices in opposite directions, at one time as if within a few 

 yards of the spot where the observer is standing, and in a 

 second or two appearing in an entirely different position. 



We should, perhaps, never have noticed this remarkable fact 

 in the Rail species, if our attention had not been called to it by 

 the observations of " Brewer." We are induced to place much 

 confidence in his views upon this subject, from our intimate 

 knowledge with the habits of the Rails of our own country, 

 which we believe also to be somewhat possessed of this singular 

 power, and the mere mention of it in this article may possibly 

 throw some additional light on the subject. It is not at all im- 

 possible that nature may have bestowed this power upon these 

 Birds for some good purpose, as well as upon other animals. 

 Captain Lyon, in speaking of the Arctic Fox, states that "it is 

 a singular fact that their bark is so modulated as to give an 

 idea that the animal is at a distance, although, at the very 

 moment, he lies at your feet;" and he supposes that these Foxes 

 are gifted with this species of Ventriloquism in order to deceive 

 their prey as to the distance they are from them. 



