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sand flat. This is the home of Scott's Rail, and he clings 

 closely to it, not flying unless driven to cross some narrow 

 opening, and then burying himself rapidly in the tangle 

 beyond. Even these open spaces he prefers, under ordinary 

 circumstances, to cross by running. 



His harsh notes, similar to those of the Clapper Rail, 

 could be frequently heard in this marsh, sometimes increas- 

 ing to a chorus of discordant cackles, but I never saw a rail 

 leave the shelter of the rushes of his own free will, nor did 

 I find it as tame as Mr. Scott declares. But his experience 

 was vastly more extensive than mine. 



The only method, that I found successful, of collecting 

 these rails witliout the aid of a dog, was to wait at one of the 

 openings while an assistant beat the marsh toward me. Then, 

 if luck favored, a shot might be obtained as a bird tried to 

 cross the open channel. Even then most of the birds would 

 double or hide, and not until we caused fire to act the part 

 of the beater did I succeed in getting more than one or two 

 birds. 



But another inhabitant of this marsh that the fire disclosed 

 dulled my enthusiasm for Scott's Rail. 



One day in early March, 1897, after Mr. Wyatt Meyer and 

 I had shot several of these birds by this means, I forced my 

 way through a small, tangled island of rushes while Meyer, 

 having set fire to this isolated portion, followed in my foot- 

 steps and took his place near me. Hardly had he taken his 

 position when I heard him shoot and then call to me. The 

 game was a Cotton-mouth Moccasin {Agkistrodoii piseivorus), 

 4 ft. 4 in. long, that had followed the path we had made 

 in the rushes, and within a few feet of which we must have 

 stepped. As the fire had burned but a short distance it is 

 not probable it had frightened this snake, and it seemed 

 more likely to us both that it was following us with no 

 friendly purpose — a habit this species is said to have. I 

 was told these moccasins feed on the rail. Cory says of this 



