THE VIRGINIAN RAIL. 175 



see them passing with a constant beat of the wings, in the manner of a 

 Green-winged Teal. As soon as they arrive at their destination, they may 

 be heard emitting their cries about sunset, occasionally through the night, 

 and again with increased vigour at the dawn of day, as if expressing their 

 impatience for the arrival of their companions. The love-notes of this 

 species have some resemblance to those of the Clapper Rail, but now and 

 then are changed for others something like crek, crek, creek, or creek, creek, 

 creek. Being expert ventriloquists, like their congeners, they sometimes 

 seem to be far off, when in fact they are within a few yards of you. One 

 morning I had the good fortune to witness their amatory gestures, which I 

 will here try to describe, that you may in some degree participate in the 

 amusement which the scene afforded me. 



The sun had scarcely begun to send his horizontal rays over the lake, on 

 the margin of which I stood, revolving in my mind the many enjoyments 

 which the Author of nature has benignantly accorded to his creatures. The 

 air was clear and serene, and the waters spread before me without a ruffle on 

 their surface. The notes of the Rail came loudly on my ear, and on moving 

 towards the spot whence they proceeded, I observed the bird exhibiting the 

 full ardour of his passion. Now with open wings raised over its body, it 

 ran around its beloved, opening and flirting its tail with singular speed. 

 Each time it passed before her, it would pause for a moment, raise itself to 

 the full stretch of its body and legs, and bow to her with all the grace of a 

 well-bred suitor of our own species. The female also bowed in recognition, 

 and at last, as the male came nearer and nearer in his circuits, yielded to his 

 wishes, on which the pair flew off in the manner of house-pigeons, sailing 

 and balancing their bodies on open wings until out of sight. During this 

 exhibition, the male emitted a mellow note, resembling the syllables cuckoe, 

 cuckoe, to which the female responded with the kind of lisping sound 

 uttered by young birds of the species when newly hatched. 



Excepting our Little Partridge, I know no small bird so swift of foot as 

 the Virginian Rail. In fact, I doubt if it would be an easy matter for an 

 active man to outstrip one of them on plain ground; and to trust to one's 

 speed for raising one among the thick herbage to which they usually resort, 

 would certainly prove fallacious. There they run to a short distance, then 

 tack about, and again scud away in a lateral direction, so as to elude the best 

 dog, or if likely to be overtaken, rise on wing, fly with dangling legs eight 

 or ten yards, drop among the weeds, and run off as swiftly as before. Not- 

 withstanding all this, I managed to secure a good number of them by means 

 of a partridge net, setting the wings of that apparatus at very obtuse angles, 

 and calling them by imitating the lisping notes of the female from some 

 distance beyond the bag of the net. Now and then I found them too 



