3o6 Bird - Lore 



and other parts of water-plants. The Sora, like many other swamp-birds 

 and water-fowls, feeds largely in autumn on the seeds of wild rice. This 

 makes them so fat that they become a dainty morsel for the epicure, and 

 are pursued without mercy by market-hunters and "sportsmen" of all colors, 

 ages, and classes. In the fresh-water meadows, they are sometimes driven 

 from cover by dogs, and many are shot in this manner. 



Shooting them in their slow fluttering flight in the daytime is about as 

 difficult as hitting a tin can floating down a brook, and a good marksman 

 rarely misses one. The greatest slaughter is perpetrated on the tide-water 

 marshes of the Middle Atlantic States, where gunners shoot almost anything 

 that flies, from Eagles to Blackbirds, Bobolinks, and Swallows. There, when 

 the tide rises high enough to allow small boats to float over the marshes, boats 

 are poled into every refuge of the poor birds, and as they seek safety in flight 

 they are shot down without mercy. Hundreds of thousands are thus killed 

 by daylight when the tide is high. The negroes of the South pursue a similar 

 sport at night, blinding the birds with torches, and striking them down with 

 sticks. This wholesale killing has greatly decreased the Sora Rail in New 

 England, but the species is very prolific, and is still numerous in many marshes 

 in the West and Northwest. 



The draining of lakes and marshes for farming purposes, which breaks up 

 their breeding-grounds, will inevitably reduce their numbers still more, year 

 by year, so that stringent protection will be necessary to maintain the species. 



Classification and Distribution 



The Sora belongs to the Order Paludicola, or marsh birds, Suborder Raili, Family 

 RallidcB, and Subfamily Rallina, which includes the Rails and Crakes. It ranges over 

 most of North America, breeds from central British Columbia, and the valleys of the 

 North Saskatchewan and St. Lawrence rivers, south to southern California, Utah, 

 Colorado, Kansas, Illinois, and New Jersey; and it winters from northern California, 

 Illinois, and South Carolina, to Venezuela and Peru. 



