RAIL. 
195 
I was amusing myself with it, when, in the act of pointing my 
finger at it, it suddenly sprang forward, apparently much irri- 
tated, 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 endeavour to discover whether or not the passion 
of anger had produced the fit. I entered the room at the ap- 
pointed 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 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 immediately 
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 as ever. These facts go to prove, 
that the Rail is subject to gusts of passion, which operate to so 
violent a degree as to produce a disease, similar in its effects to 
epilepsy. I leave the explication of the phenomenon to those 
pathologists who are competent and willing to investigate it. 
It may be worthy of remark, that the birds affected as described, 
were all females of the Rallus Carolinus, or common Rail. 
“The Rail, though generally reputed a simple bird, will 
sometimes manifest symptoms of considerable intelligence. To 
