RAIL. 
387 
may always be distinguished by their ashy blue breasts, and black 
throats. 
During the greater part of the months of September and October, 
the market of Philadelphia is abundantly supplied with Rail, which are 
sold from half a dollar to a dollar a dozen. Soon after the twentieth 
of October, at which time our first smart frosts generally take place, 
these birds move off to the south. In Virginia they usually remain 
until the first week in November. 
Since the above was written, I have received from Mr. George Ord, 
of Philadelphia, some curious particulars relative to this bird, which, 
as they are new, and come from a gentleman of respectability, are 
worthy of being recorded, and merit further investigation. 
"My personal experience," says Mr. Ord, "has made me accpuainted 
with a fact in the history of the Rail, which perhaps is not generally 
known ; and I shall, as briefly as possible, communicate 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 discovered 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 suddenly 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. Thinking 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 endeavor to discover whether or not 
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 humor, 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 repeated, with the like effect. In the autumn of 
1811, as I was shooting amongst the reeds, I perceived a Rail 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 immedi- 
ately fell. Its feet and neck were extended, as in the instances above 
mentioned ; and before it had time to recover, I killed it. Some few 
days afterwards, as a friend and I were shooting in the same place, he 
killed a Rail, and, as we approached the spot to pick it up, another was 
perceived, not a foot off, in a fit. I took up the bird, and placed it in 
the crown of my hat. In a few moments it revived, and was as vigorous 
