RAIL. 
237 
or five feet of water. They rise with an erect, tapering stem, 
to the height of eight or ten feet, being nearly as thick below 
as a man’s wrist, and cover tracts along the river of many 
acres. The cattle feed on their long green leaves with avidity, 
and wade in after them as far as they dare safely venture. 
They grow up so close together, that, except at or near high 
water, a boat can with difficulty make its way through among 
them. The seeds are produced at the top of the plant, the 
blossoms, or male parts, occupying the lower branches of the 
panicle, and the seeds the higher. These seeds are nearly as 
long as a common sized pin, somewhat more slender, white, 
sweet to the taste, and very nutritive, as appears by their 
effects on the various birds that at this season feed on them. 
When the reeds are in this state, and even while in blossom, 
the Rail are found to have taken possession of them in great 
numbers. These are generally numerous in proportion to the 
full and promising crop of the former. As you walk along 
the embankment of the river at this season, you hear them 
squeaking in every direction like young puppies. If a stone 
be thrown among the reeds, there is a general outcry, and a 
reiterated kuk , kuk , kuk, something like that of a Guineafowl. 
Any sudden noise, or the discharge of a gun, produces the 
same effect. In the mean time none are to be seen, unless it 
be at or near high water ; for, when the tide is low, they 
universally secrete themselves among the interstices of the 
reeds, and you may walk past, and even over them, where 
there are hundreds, without seeing a single individual. On 
their first arrival, they are generally lean, and unfit for the 
table ; but, as the reeds ripen, they rapidly fatten, and, from 
the 20th of September to the middle of October, are excellent, 
and eagerly sought after. The usual method of shooting 
them, in this quarter of the country, is as follows: — The 
sportsman furnishes himself with a light batteau, and a stout 
experienced boatman, with a pole of twelve or fifteen feet 
long, thickened at the lower end to prevent it from sinking 
too deep into the mud. About two hours or so before high 
