AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 
207 
such places as the birds frequent, with great eagerness and 
enthusiasm. 
The natural history of the Rail , or as it is called in Vir- 
ginia, the Sora, and in South Carolina the Coot, is, to the 
most of our sportsmen, involved in profound and inexpli- 
cable mystery. It comes, they know not whence; and 
goes, they know not whither. No one can detect their first 
moment of arrival; yet all at once the reedy shores, and 
grassy marshes, of our large rivers swarm with them, thou- 
sands being sometimes found within the space of a few 
acres. These, when they do venture on wing, seem to fly 
so feebly, and in such short fluttering flights among the 
reeds, as to render it highly improbable, to most people, 
that they could possibly make their way over an extensive 
tract of country. Yet, on the first smart frost that occurs, 
the whole suddenly disappear, as if they had never been. 
To account for these extraordinary phenomena, it has 
been supposed, by some, that they bury themselves in the 
mud; but as this is every year dug into by ditchers and 
people employed in repairing the banks, without any of 
those sleepers being found, where but a few weeks before 
these birds were innumerable, this theory has been gene- 
rally abandoned. And here their researches into this mys- 
terious matter generally end in the common exclamation of 
“ What can become of them!” Some profound inquirers, 
however, not discouraged with these difficulties, have pro- 
secuted their researches with more success; and one of 
those, living a few years ago near the mouth of James 
river, in Virginia, where the Rail or Sora are extremely 
numerous, has (as I was informed on the spot) lately disco- 
vered, that they change into frogs! having himself found 
in his meadows an animal of an extraordinary kind, that 
appeared to be neither a Sora nor a frog; but, as he ex- 
pressed it, “ something between the two.” He carried it 
to his negroes, and afterwards took it home, where it lived 
three days, and in his own, and his negroes’ opinion, it 
looked like nothing in this world but a real Sora, changing 
into a frog! What farther confirms this grand discovery, is 
the well known circumstance of the frogs ceasing to hollow 
as soon as the Sora comes in the Fall. 
This sagacious discoverer, however, like many others re- 
nowned in history, has found but a few supporters; and, 
except his own negroes, has not, as far as I can learn, made 
a single convert to his opinion. Matters being so circum- 
stanced, and some explanation necessary, I shall endeavour 
to throw a little more light on the subject, by a simple de- 
tail of facts, leaving the reader to form his own theory as he 
pleases. 
The Rail or Sora belongs to a genus of birds of which 
about thirty different species are enumerated by naturalists; 
and these are distributed over almost every region of the 
habitable parts of the earth. The general character of these 
is every where the same. They run swiftly, fly slowly, 
and usually with the legs hanging down; become extremely 
fat; are fond of concealment, and, wherever it is practica- 
ble, prefer running to flying. Most of them are migratory, 
and abound during the summer in certain countries, the in- 
habitants of which have very rarely an opportunity of see- 
ing them. Of this last the Land Rail of Britain is a striking 
example. This bird, which, during the summer months, 
may be heard in almost every grass and clover field in the 
kingdom, uttering its common note, crek, crek, from sunset 
to a late hour in the night, is yet unknown, by sight, to 
more than nine-tenths of the inhabitants. “Its well known 
cry,” says Bewick, “is first heard as soon as the grass 
becomes long enough to shelter it, and continues till the 
grass is cut; but the bird is seldom seen, for it constantly 
skulks among the thickest part of the herbage, and runs so 
nimbly through it, winding and doubling in every direc- 
tion, that it is difficult to come near it; when hard pushed 
by the dog, it sometimes stops short, and squats down, by 
which means its too eager pursuer overshoots the spot, and 
loses the trace. It seldom springs but when driven to extre- 
mity, and generally flies with its legs hanging down, but 
never to a great distance; as soon as it alights it runs off, 
and before the fowler has reached the spot, the bird is at a 
considerable distance.” The Water Crake, or Spotted 
Rail of the same country, w T hich in its plumage approaches 
nearer to our Rail, is another notable example of the same 
general habit of the genus. “Its common abode,” says 
the same writer, “is in low swampy grounds, in which are 
pools or streamlets overgrown with willows, reeds and 
rushes, where it lurks and hides itself with great circum- 
spection; it is wild, solitary, and shy, and will swim, dive 
or skulk under any cover, and sometimes suffer itself to be 
knocked on the head, rather than rise before the sportsman 
and his dog.” The Water Rail of the same country is 
equally noted for the like habits. In short, the whole 
genus possess this strong family character in a very remark- 
able degree. 
These three species are well known to migrate into Bri- 
tain early in spring, and to leave it for the more southern 
parts of Europe in autumn. Yet they are rarely or never 
seen in their passage to or from the countries where they 
are regularly found at different seasons of the year; and 
this for the very same reasons, that they are so rarely seen 
even in the places where they inhabit. 
It is not, therefore, at all surprising, that the regular mi- 
grations of the American Rail or Sora should, in like man- 
ner, have escaped notice in a country like this, whose popu- 
lation bears so small a proportion to its extent; and where 
the study of natural history is so little attended to. But 
