238 
RAIL. 
water, they enter the reeds, and each takes his post, the 
sportsman standing in the bow ready for action, the boatman, 
on the stern seat, pushing her steadily through the reeds. 
The Rail generally spring singly, as the boat advances, and 
at a short distance ahead, are instantly shot down, while the 
boatman, keeping his eye on the spot where the bird fell, 
directs the boat forward, and picks it up as the gunner is 
loading. It is also the boatman’s business to keep a sharp 
look-out, and give the word iC Mark ! ” when a Rail springs 
on either side without being observed by the sportsman, and 
to note the exact spot where it falls until he has picked it up ; 
for this once lost sight of, owing to the sameness in the 
appearance of the reeds, is seldom found again. In this 
manner the boat moves steadily through and over the reeds, 
the birds flushing and falling, the gunner loading and firing, 
while the boatman is pushing and picking up. The sport 
continues till an hour or two after high water, when the 
shallowness of the water, and the strength and weight of the 
floating reeds, as also the backwardness of the game to spring 
as the tide decreases, oblige them to return. Several boats 
are sometimes within a short distance of each other, and a 
perpetual cracking of musketry prevails along the whole reedy 
shores of the river. In these excursions it is not uncommon 
for an active and expert marksman to kill ten or twelve dozen 
in a tide. They are usually shot singly, though I have known 
five killed at one discharge of a double-barrelled piece. These 
instances, however, are rare. 
The flight of these birds among the reeds is usually low ; 
and, shelter being abundant, is rarely extended to more than 
fifty or one hundred yards. When winged, and uninjured 
in their legs, they swim and dive with great rapidity, and are 
seldom seen to rise again. I have several times, on such 
occasions, discovered them clinging with their feet to the reeds 
under the water, and at other times skulking under the floating 
reeds, with their bill just above the surface. Sometimes, when 
wounded, they dive, and, rising under the gunwale of the 
