EAIL-SHOOTING. 333 



the English snipe, and alight at any damp spots for 

 a temporary rest wherever the growth of plants 

 promises nutriment. 



Tiiey are often flushed by the snipe-shooter, to- 

 gether with the larger I'lesh-water rail, rallus elegans, 

 and their curious cry resounds along the reedy 

 marshes where the wild-fowler pursues the earl>' 

 ducks. Nevertheless, they are difficult to flush and 

 kill where there is no tide to drive them from their 

 muddy retreats, and where the ground is too heavy 

 for a dog ; and, comparatively speaking, on fresh 

 water, unless the wind shall have caused a tempo- 

 rary rise, they are safe from injmy. 



Their voices reply with the guttural " krek-krek- 

 krek" to the noise of the boat, and tauntingly boast 

 of their abundance and their security. Moreover, in 

 a new country, where larger game is still plentiful, 

 the excellences of the tender but diminutive rail are 

 lost sight of by comparison with his more profitable 

 compeers ; and except along the Atlantic coast, he 

 is known as a game-bird neither to the sportsman 

 nor the conk. 



From the fact that he is rarely seen in the spring, 

 and does not at that season give his enemies a chance 

 to prevent his reaching his nesting-places at the far 

 north — but only visits us during a few sliort weeks in 

 the fall, and then is not much exposed, except in cer- 

 tain localities — his race will be preserved in undimi- 

 nished numbers for many generations ; the light skiffs 

 will carry the eager city sportsman along the shores 

 of the Delaware, the Hackensack, and the cove on 



