232 
RAIL. 
the most agreeable and temperate of our seasons, is attended 
with little or no fatigue to the gunner, and is frequently 
successful, it attracts numerous followers, and is pursued, 
in such places as the birds frequent, with great eagerness and 
enthusiasm. 
The natural history of the Rail, or, as it is called in Virginia, 
the Sora, and in South Carolina, the Coot, is, to the most of 
our sportsmen, involved in profound and inexplicable mystery. 
It comes, they know not whence ; and goes, they know not 
where. No one can detect their first moment of arrival ; 
typical examples. In Gallinula, the forehead is defended with a flat cartila- 
ginous shield, and the habits are more open. In Rallies, the bill is longer than 
the head, and comparatively slender. 
In habit they nearly agree ; timid, and fond of concealment during the 
day, they frequent low meadows or marshy grounds, and run swiftly : the 
common Land Rail will beat a good runner for a short way, as I have 
sometimes experienced. They run with the body near the ground, and 
make their turns with astonishing celerity. When raised or surprised during 
the day, they fly clumsily ; but in the evening, and when that faculty is 
exerted with their will, it is much more actively performed ; their time for 
exertion is evening and morning, often during the night : then they feed, and, 
during breeding season, utter the incessant and unharmonious cry which almost 
all possess. The cry is remarkable in all that I have heard, appearing to be 
uttered sometimes within a few yards, and, in a second or two, as if at an 
opposite part of the ground. The Land Rail possesses this ventriloquism to a 
great extent, and, knowing their swift running powers, I at first thought that 
the bird was actually traversing the field, and it was not until I had observed 
one perched upon a stone utter its cry for some time, and give full evidence 
of its powers, that I became convinced of the contrary. The Corncrake, and, 
indeed, I rather think most of the others, and also the Rails, seem to remain 
stationary when uttering the cry. A stone, clod of earth, or old sod wall, is the 
common calling place of our own bird ; and they may be easily watched, in the 
beginning of summer, if approached with caution, before the herbage begins to 
thicken. They seem to feed on larger prey than what are assigned to them : 
large water insects, and the smaller reptiles, may assist in sustaining the aquatic 
species ; while slugs and larger snails will furnish subsistence to the others. I 
have found the common short-tailed field mouse in the stomach of our Land Rail. 
Their flesh is generally delicate, some as much esteemed as the American 
bird, and the young, before commencing their migrations, become extremely fat. 
Crex Carolinus is the only species of the genus yet discovered in North 
America, and is peculiar to that continent. — Ed. 
