SORA. 
191 
reiterated 'kuk 'kuk ’kuk ’k’k 'k'k, resounds from the covered 
marsh, and is again renewed by the timid throng on the dis- 
charge of a gun or any other sudden noise within their hearing. 
The Rails, however numerous, are scarcely visible, unless it be 
at or near to high water ; for when the tide is down they have 
the art so well to conceal themselves among the reeds that 
you may walk past and even over them, where there are hun- 
dreds, without seeing probably a single individual. 
The flight of the Rails while confined among the Rice 
Reeds is low, feeble, and fluttering, with the legs hanging down 
as if the effort were unnatural and constrained, — which may, no 
doubt, at times be produced by the extreme corpulency which 
they attain in a favorable season for food ; yet occasionally 
they will rise to a considerable height, and cross considerable 
streams without any reluctance or difficulty ; so that however 
short may be their wings, the muscles by which they are set in 
motion are abundantly sufficient to provide them the means of 
pursuing the deliberate stages of their migratory course. Wher- 
ever the Zizania and its nutritious grain abounds, there the Rails 
are generally seen. In the reedy lakes of Michigan as well as 
the tide-water streams of the Atlantic these birds are found 
congregated in quest of their favorite food. In Virginia they 
are particularly abundant along the grassy banks of James 
River within the bounds of tide-water, where they are often 
taken in the night while perched among the reeds ; being stu- 
pefied by the glare of a fire carried in among them, they are 
then easily approached by a boat, and rudely knocked on the 
head with a paddle, — sometimes in such quantities that three 
negroes in as many hours have been known to kill from twenty 
to eighty dozen. 
Fear seems to be a ruling passion among the whole tribe 
of Rails and their kindred allies. With faculties for acting in 
the day, timidity alone seems to have rendered them almost 
nocturnal in their actions ; their sole address and cunning 
seems entirely employed in finding out means of concealment. 
This is particularly the case when wounded ; they then swim 
out and dive with so much caution as seldom to be seen again 
