254 SORA RAIL. 



friend Edward Harkis, Esq. on a woodcock shooting expedition, my 

 son shot some young birds scarcely fledged, and shortly afterwards an 

 adult female. John Bachman met with a nest on the shore of the Hud- 

 son, and I saw two in the marshes of Lake Champlain. 



Fond of concealment, as all its tribe are, the Sora is rarely seen du- 

 ring day, although, being seminocturnal, it skulks amid the tall reeds or 

 grasses, both by day and at night, in search of its food. Differing, how- 

 ever, in habit, as well as in form, from the Gallinules, it rarely abandons 

 the retreats which it has chosen after the breeding season, and rises, when 

 forced by tides, to the tops of the plants about it, climbing along or 

 clinging to their stalks or leaves, Avith as much ease as it walks on the 

 floating garbage, when persons in boats can see them without any diffi- 

 culty. Whenever these occurrences take place, and the country around 

 is thickly peopled, great havock is made among them. This particularly 

 happens on the James and Delaware rivers, where thousands are annually 

 destroyed during their autumnal stay. The sport of shooting Soras is 

 much akin to that of shooting Clapper Rails, or Salt- Water-Marsh-Hens, 

 which I have already described. But Wilson having given an account 

 of it, as pursued when Soras were much more abundant than I ever saw 

 them, I shall transcribe his description of the manner adopted by the 

 sportsmen on the Delaware. 



" The usual method of shooting them, in this quarter of the country, 

 is as follows : — The sportsman furnishes himself with a light batteau, and 

 a stout experienced boatman, with a pole of twelve or fifteen feet long, 

 thickened at the lower end to prevent it from sinking too deep into the mud. 

 About two hours or so before high water, they enter the reeds, and each 

 takes his post, the sportsman standing in the bow ready for action, the 

 boatman, on the stern seat, pushing her steadily through the reeds. The 

 Rail generally spring singly, as the boat advances, and at a short distance 

 ahead, are instantly shot down, while the boatman, keeping his eye on 

 the spot where the bird fell, directs the boat forward, and picks it up as 

 the gunner is loading. It is also the boatman's business to keep a sharp 

 look-out, and give the word ' mark !' when a Rail springs on either side 

 without being observed by the sportsman, and to note the exact spot 

 where it falls until he has picked it up ; for this once lost sight of, owing 

 to the sameness in the appearance of the reeds, is seldom found again. 

 In this manner the boat moves steadily through and over the reeds, the 

 birds flushing and falling, the gunner loading and firing, while the boat- 



