650 AVES=RATL. 
ot moss. The nest is in its color so closely similar to that of the surround- 
ing objects, that it is almost impossible to discover it except when the bird is 
entering. The eggs are five in number ; white, tinged with a fine blush of 
red. It will sometimes pick up insects at the edge of the water. When 
disturbed, it usually flirts up its tail, and makes a chirping noise. Its song 
in spring is said to be very pretty. In some places it is supposed to be 
migratory. 
THE AMERICAN RAIL! 
Arrorps the sportsman a most agreeable amusement, anda delicious repast 
In Virginia, it is called sora, and in South Carolina, the coot. Its history is 
involved in profound mystery. No one can detect the first moment of arri- 
val; yet, all at once, the reedy shores, and grassy marshes of our large 
rivers, swarm with them, thousands of them being sometimes found within 
the space of a few acres. These, when they do venture on the wing, seem to 
fly so feebly, and in such short fluttering flights among the reeds, as to render it 
highly improbable to most people that they could possibly make their way 
over an extensive country. Yet on the first smart frost that occurs, the 
whole suddenly disappear, as if they had never been. 
When the reeds along the shores of the Delaware have attained their full 
growth, the rail resort to them in great numbers to feed on the seeds of this 
plant, of which they are immoderately fond. As you walk along the em- 
1 Rallus carolinus, Lin. 
