SORA. 191 



reiterated ''kuk ^kuk ^kuk 'k'k '^'k, resounds from the covered 

 marsh, and is again renewed by the timid throng on the dis- 

 charge of a gun or any other sudden noise within their hearing. 

 The Rails, however numerous, are scarcely visible, unless it be 

 at or near to high water ; for when the tide is down they have 

 the art so well to conceal themselves among the reeds that 

 you may walk past and even over them, where there are hun- 

 dreds, without seeing probably a single individual. 



The flight of the Rails while confined among the Rice 

 Reeds is low, feeble, and fluttering, with the legs hanging down 

 as if the effort were unnatural and constrained, — which may, no 

 doubt, at times be produced by the extreme corpulency which 

 they attain in a favorable season for food ; yet occasionally 

 they will rise to a considerable height, and cross considerable 

 streams without any reluctance or difificulty ; so that however 

 short may be their wings, the muscles by which they are set in 

 motion are abundantly sufficient to provide them the means of 

 pursuing the deliberate stages of their migratory course. Wher- 

 ever the Zizania and its nutritious grain abounds, there the Rails 

 are generally seen. In the reedy lakes of Michigan as well as 

 the tide-water streams of the Atlantic these birds are found 

 congregated in quest of their favorite food. In Virginia they 

 are particularly abundant along the grassy banks of James 

 River within the bounds of tide-water, where they are often 

 taken in the night while perched among the reeds ; being stu- 

 pefied by the glare of a fire carried in among them, they are 

 then easily approached by a boat, and rudely knocked on the 

 head with a paddle, — sometimes in such quantities that three 

 negroes in as many hours have been known to kill from twenty 

 to eighty dozen. 



Fear seems to be a ruling passion among the whole tribe 

 of Rails and their kindred allies. With faculties for acting in 

 the day, timidity alone seems to have rendered them almost 

 nocturnal in their actions ; their sole address and cunning 

 seems entirely employed in finding out means of concealment. 

 This is particularly the case when wounded ; they then swim 

 out and dive with so much caution as seldom to be seen again 



