THE LAND RAIL CAROLINA RAIL. 339 



THE LAND RAIL. 



The bill of the Land Rail is short, strong, and thick. The feathers 

 on the crown of the head, the hind 

 part of the neck, and the back, are 

 black, edged with bay. The coverts 

 of the wings are of the same color ; 

 DUt not spotted. The tail is short 

 and of a deep bay. The belly is 

 white, and the legs are ash-colored. 

 These birds generally weigh from six 

 to eight ounces. 



The harsh cry of this bird, which 

 somewhat resembles the word, crek, 

 crek. crek, is by no means unlike the 



j V* , n ! 1 j.1 LAND RAIL. 



noise made by stripping forcibly the 



teeth of a large comb under the fingers. It is chiefly heard in the 

 summer season, among the long grass and corn. Here the bird con- 

 stantly skulks, hidden by the thickest part of the herbage, winding 

 and doubling, in every direction, in such manner that it is generally 

 difficult for any person to come near it. When hard pushed by the 

 sportsman or his dogs, it sometimes stops short, and its too eager 

 pursuers overshoot the spot, and lose all trace of it. 



Ill-calculated as, from the shortness of its wings, and the position 

 and length of its legs, this bird appears to be for flight, it certainly is 

 able to fly with considerable swiftness. It is, in general, very unwill- 

 ling to rise from the ground ; and such is its timidity, that it will some- 

 times squat so close as to suffer itself to be taken up into the hand 

 rather than rise. 



It is a bird of passage, generally making its appearance about the 

 same time with the Quail. 



It appears that Land Rails frequent the fields more for the sake OA 

 snails, slugs, and other vermes which abound in such places, than for 

 the grain or seeds they might find there. 



The female constructs her nest on the ground,- of moss and dry 

 grass, negligently put together. The number of eggs is generally 

 about ten or twelve, of a pale ash -color, marked with ferruginous 

 spots. The young-ones are able to run as soon they have burst the 

 shell 



THE CAROLINA RAIL. 



The Soiree, or Common Rail of America, which assemble in such 

 numbers on the reedy shores of the larger rivers, in the Middle and 

 adjoining warmer States, at the approach of autumn, and which afford 

 such abundant employ to the sportsman, at that season, like most ot 

 the tribe to which it belongs, is a bird of passage, wintering generally 

 south of the limits of the Union. They begin to make their appearance, 

 in the marshes of Georgia, by the close of February ; and, on the 2d 



