THE VIRGINIAN RAIL. 
175 
see them passing with a constant beat of the wings, in the manner of a 
Green-winged Teal. As soon as they arrive at their destination, they may 
be heard emitting their cries about sunset, occasionally through the night, 
and again with increased vigour at the dawn of day, as if expressing their 
impatience for the arrival of their companions. The love-notes of this 
species have some resemblance to those of the Clapper Rail, but now and 
then are changed for others something like crek, crek, creek , or creek, creek, 
creek. Being expert ventriloquists, like their congeners, they sometimes 
seem to be far off, when in fact they are within a few yards of you. One 
morning I had the good fortune to witness their amatory gestures, which I 
will here try to describe, that you may in some degree participate in the 
amusement which the scene afforded me. 
The sun had scarcely begun to send his horizontal rays over the lake, on 
the margin of which I stood, revolving in my mind the many enjoyments 
which the Author of nature has benignantly accorded to his creatures. The 
air was clear and serene, and the waters spread before me without a ruffle on 
their surface. The notes of the Rail came loudly on my ear, and on moving 
towards the spot whence they proceeded, I observed the bird exhibiting the 
full ardour of his passion. Now with open wings raised over its body, it 
ran around its beloved, opening and flirting its tail with singular speed. 
Each time it passed before her, it would pause for a moment, raise itself to 
the full stretch of its body and legs, and bow to her with all the grace of a 
well-bred suitor of our own species. The female also bowed in recognition, 
and at last, as the male came nearer and nearer in his circuits, yielded to his 
wishes, on which the pair flew off in the manner of house-pigeons, sailing 
and balancing their bodies on open wings until out of sight. During this 
exhibition, the male emitted a mellow note, resembling the syllables cuc/coe, 
cuckoe, to which the female responded with the kind of lisping sound 
uttered by young birds of the species when newly hatched. 
Excepting our Little Partridge, I know no small bird so swift of foot as 
the Virginian Rail. In fact, I doubt if it would be an easy matter for an 
active man to outstrip one of them on plain ground ; and to trust to one’s 
speed for raising one among the thick herbage to which they usually resort, 
would certainly prove fallacious. There they run to a short distance, then 
tack about, and again scud away in a lateral direction, so as to elude the best 
dog, or if likely to be overtaken, rise on wing, fly with dangling legs eight 
or ten yards, drop among the weeds, and run off as swiftly as before. Not- 
withstanding all this, I managed to secure a good number of them by means 
of a partridge net, setting the wings of that apparatus at very obtuse angles, 
and calling them by imitating the lisping notes of the female from some 
distance beyond the bag of the net. Now and then I found them too 
