SORA RAIL. 255 



man is pushing and picking up. The sport continues till an hour or two 

 after high water, when the shallowness of the water, and the strength and 

 weight of the floating reeds, as also the backwardness of the game to 

 spring as the tide decreases, oblige them to return. Several boats are 

 sometimes within a short distance of each other, and a perpetual cracking 

 of musketry prevails along the whole reedy shores of the river. In these 

 excursions it is not uncommon for an active and expert marksman to kill 

 ten or twelve dozen in a tide. They are usually shot singly, though I 

 have known five killed at one discharge of a double-barrelled piece. These 

 instances, however, are rare." 



" Such is the mode of Rail shooting in the neighbourhood of Phila- 

 delphia. In Virginia, particularly along the shores of James River, with- 

 in the tide water, where the Rail or Sora are in prodigious numbers, they 

 are also shot on the wing, but more usually taken at night in the follow- 

 ing manner : — A kind of iron grate is fixed on the top of a stout pole, 

 which is placed like a mast, in a hght canoe, and filled with fire. The 

 darker the night the more successful is the sport. The person who 

 manages the canoe is provided with a hght paddle, ten or twelve feet in 

 length, and, about an hour before high water, proceeds through among 

 the reeds, which lie broken and floating on the surface. The whole 

 space, for a considerable way round the canoe, is completely enlightened, 

 the birds stare with astonishment, and, as they appear, are knocked on 

 the head with the paddle, and thrown into the canoe. In this manner, 

 from twenty to eighty dozen have been killed by three Negroes in the 

 short space of three hours !" 



The flight of this little bird while migrating is low, and performed 

 with a constant beating of the wings, as in the Coot and other birds of 

 its kind. They pass swiftly along in compact flocks of from five to a 

 hundred or more individuals. At times you see them rise in a long 

 curve, as if they had perceived some dangerous object beneath them ; then 

 resume their ordinary direct flight, and are soon out of sight. On the 

 contrary, when they are with us in autumn, they seem far from being 

 alert on wing, flying slowly with danghng legs, and proceeding only to a 

 short distance, when they drop among the reeds with their wings extend- 

 ed, as if they had been shot. If raised two or three times, it is extreme- 

 ly difficult to see them again ; for on such occasions they will rather dive 

 and hide under some floating weeds, keeping their bill only above the 

 water. When walking leisurely, they throw up the tail, in the manner 



