RAIL. 



37 



Since the above was written, I have received frora Mr. George 

 Ord of Philadelphia, some curious particulars relative to this bird, 

 which, as they are new, and come from a gentleman of respecta- 

 bility, well known for his dexterity at Rail-shooting, are worthy of 

 being recorded, and merit further investigation. 



My personal experience,'^ says Mr. Ord, " has made me ac- 

 quainted with a fact in the history of the Rail, which perhaps is 

 not generally known; and I shall, as briefly as possible, commu- 

 nicate it to you. Some time in the autumn of the year 1809, as 

 I was walking in a yard, after a severe shower of rain, I perceived 

 the feet of a bird projecting from a spout. I pulled it out, and dis- 

 covered it to be a Rail, very vigorous, and in perfect health. The 

 bird was placed in a small room, on a gin-case ; and I was amusing 

 myself with it, when, in the act of pointing my finger at it, it sud- 

 denly sprang forward, apparently much irritated, fell to the floor, 

 and stretching out its feet, and bending its neck until the head 

 nearly touched the back, became to all appearance lifeless. Think- 

 ing the fall had killed the bird, I took it up, and began to lament 

 my rashness in provoking it. In a few minutes it again breathed, 

 and it was some time before it perfectly recovered from the fit, 

 into which, it now appeared evident, it had fallen. I placed the 

 Rail in a room, wherein Canary birds were confined; and resolved 

 that, on the succeeding day, I would endeavour to discover whe- 

 ther or no the passion of anger had produced the fit. I entered 

 the room at the appointed time and approached the bird, which 

 had retired on beholding me, in a sullen humour, to a corner. On 

 pointing my finger at it, its feathers were immediately ruffled; 

 and in an instant it sprang forward, as in the first instance, and 

 fell into a similar fit. The following day the experiment was re- 

 peated with the like effect. In the fall of 1811 as I was gunning 

 amongst the reeds in pursuit of Rail, I perceived one rise but a 

 few feet before my batteau. The bird had risen about a yard when 

 it became entangled in the tops of a small bunch of reeds, and im- 



VOL. VI. K 



