NATURAL HISTOiRY OF THE KING RAIL 



01 



of its habitat and other circumstances govern the manner in which it 

 flies, and I have seen several fly at a fast clip for 300 yards. 



The Marsh Hen, as this bird is sometimes called, tends to be secretive, 

 but at times it is found in completely open situations near cover. It is 

 not readily flushed, usually escapes by running, and flies only as a last 

 resort. Flight begins with the legs dangling, but as the bird levels 

 off, it flies in a straight line close to the ground with its legs extended 

 straight back beyond the tail and its neck stretched forward. 



Methods of hunting King Rails in the wildrice marshes of Chesa- 

 peake Bay and the Delaware Valley are quite different from those in 

 the domestic ricefields of Louisiana and Texas. In the Chesapeake Bay 

 and Delaware River tidal marshes, rails are hunted mostly from long, 

 narrow, flat-bottom boats that are poled through the flooded wildrice 

 beds by a "pusher" (figs. 33 and 34). When tides reach peak level, the 

 rails flush as the boat approaches them. 



Patuxent River, Md, 



On the Patuxent River in the Southern Maryland tobacco country, 

 rail hunting has been a sport enjoyed by the tobacco growing aristoc- 

 racy since Colonial times. Perc Blogg (1944, p. 67-68), famous Mary- 

 land sportsman of the "good old days," presents an account of the 

 hunting of Soras and King Rails on the Patuxent in his delightful 



Figure 33. — Method of hunting railbirds in Patuxent River wildrice marshes in 

 Maryland. Boat is poled through marshs at flood tide ( September 1958) . 



