424 RAIL 
dered highly probable from their being so frequently met with at 
sea, between our shores and the West India islands. A Captain 
Douglas informed me, that, on his voyage from St. Domingo to Phila- 
delphia, and’ more than a hundred miles from the capes of tae Dela- 
ware, one night the man at the helm was alarmed by a sudden crash 
on deck, that broke the glass in the binnacle, and put out the light. 
On examining into the cause, three Rail were found on deck, two of 
which were killed on the spot, and the other died soon after. The 
late Bishop Madison, president of William and Mary College, Vir- 
ginia, assured me, that a Mr. Skipwith, for some time our consul in 
Europe, on his return to the United States, when upwards of three 
hundred miles from the capes of the Chesapeake, several Rail, or 
Soras, I think five or six, came on board, and were caught by the 
people. Mr. Skipwith, being well acquainted with the bird, assured 
him that they were the very same with those usually killed on James 
River. Ihave received like assurances from several other gentlemen 
and captains of vessels who have met with these birds between the 
mainland and the islands, so as to leave no doubt on my mind of the 
fact. For why should it be considered incredible that a bird which 
can both swim and dive well, and at pleasure fly with great rapidity, as 
I have myself frequently witnessed, should he incapable of migrating, 
like so many others, over extensive tracts of land or sea? Inhabiting 
as they do, the remote regions of Hudson’s Bay, where it is impossible 
they could subsist during the rigors of their winter, they must either 
emigrate from thence or perish; and as the same places in Pennsyl- 
vania which abound with them in October, are often laid under ice 
and snow during the winter, it is as impossible that they could exist 
here in that inclement season: Heaven has, therefore, given them, in 
common with many others, certain prescience of these circumstances, 
and judgment, as well as strength of flight, sufficient to seek more 
genial climates abounding with their suitable food. 
The Rail is nine inches long, and fourteen inches in extent; bill, 
yellow, ‘blackish towards the point; lores, front, crown, chin, and 
stripe down the throat, black; line over the eye, cheeks, and breast, 
fine light ash; sides of the crown, neck, and upper parts generally, 
olive brown, streaked with black, and also with long lines of pure 
white, the feathers being centred with black on a brown olive ground, 
and edged with white; these touches of white are shorter near the 
shoulder of the wing, lengthening as they descend; wing, plain olive 
brown; tertials, streaked with black, and long lines of white; tail, 
pointed, dusky olive brown, centred with black; the four middle 
feathers bordered for half their length with lines of white; lower part 
of the breast marked with semicircular lines of white, on a light ash 
ground; belly, white; sides under the wings, deep olive, barred with 
black, white, and reddish buff; vent, brownish buff; legs, feet, and 
naked part of the thighs, yellowish green; exterior edge of the wing, 
white ; eyes, reddish hazel. , 
The females, and yeuny of the first season, have the throat white, 
the breast pale brown, and little or no black on the head. Tle males 
may always be distinguished by their ashy blue breasts and black 
‘oats. i 
During the greater part of the months of September and October 
