RAIL. 



233 



day, for four or five weeks in each year ; but as it occurs in 

 the most agreeable and temperate of our seasons, is attended 

 with little or no fatigue to the gunner, and is frequently 

 successful, it attracts numerous followers, and is pursued 

 in such places as the birds frequent with great eagerness and 

 enthusiasm. 



present species, may be taken as very good typical examples. In 

 Gallinula, the forehead is defended with a flat cartilaginous shield, and 

 the habits are more open. In Rallus, the bill is longer than the head, 

 and comparatively slender. 



In habit they nearly agree ; timid, and fond of concealment during 

 the day, they freqnent low meadows or marshy grounds, and run 

 swiftly : the common land rail will beat a good runner for a short way, as 

 I have sometimes experienced. They run with the body near the ground, 

 and make their turns with astonishing celerity. When raised or sur- 

 prised during the day, they fly clumsily ; but in the evening, and when 

 that faculty is exerted with their will, it is much more actively per- 

 formed ; their time for exertion is evening and morning, often during 

 the night : then they feed, and, during breeding season, utter the in- 

 cessant and inharmonious cry which almost all possess. The cry is 

 remarkable in all that I have heard, appearing to be uttered sometimes 

 within a few yards, and, in a second or two, as if at an opposite part of 

 the ground. The land rail possesses this ventriloquism to a great extent, 

 and, knowing their swift running powers, 1 at first thought that the 

 bird was actually traversing the field, and it was not until I had observed 

 one perched upon a stone utter its cry for some time, and give full 

 evidence of its powers, that I became convinced of the contrary. The - 

 corncrake, and, indeed, I rather think most of the others, and also the 

 rails, seem to remain stationary when uttering the cry. A stone, clod 

 of earth, or old sod wall, is the common calling place of our own bird ; 

 and they may be easily watched, in the beginning of summer, if 

 approached with caution, before the herbage begins to thicken. They seem 

 to feed on larger prey than what are assigned to them : large water 

 insects and the smaller reptiles may assist in sustaining the aquatic 

 species, while slugs and larger snails will furnish subsistence to the 

 others. I have found the common short-tailed field mouse in the 

 stomach of our land rail. 



Their flesh is generally delicate, some as much esteemed as the 

 American bird, and the young, before commencing their migrations, 

 become extremely fat. 



Crex Carolinus is the only species of the genus yet discovered in 

 North America, and is peculiar to that continent. — Ed. 



