192 
graham’s magazine. 
the lower branches of the pannicle, and the seeds the 
higher. The seeds are nearly as long as a common-sized 
pin, somewhat more slender, white, sweet to Ihe taste, 
and very nutritive, as appears by their effects on the 
various birds that feed on them at this season. 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 IcuJc , Jcitlc, hulc —something like 
that of a Guinea-fowl. Any sudden noise, or discharge 
of a gun, produces the same effect. In the meantime, 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 insterstices 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 
seeds ripen, they rapidly fatten, and from the 20th Sep¬ 
tember 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 in the mud. About two hours or 
so before high 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 a-head, are 
instantly shot down, while the boatman, keeping his eye 
on the spot where the bird fell, directs the boat forward, 
and picks the bird up, while the gunner is loading. It is 
also the boatman’s business to keep a sharp look out, and 
give the word ‘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 ap¬ 
pearance 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 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 backwarkness of 
the game to spring, as the tide decreases, oblige them to 
return. Several boats are sometimes within a short dis¬ 
tance of each other, and a perpetual cracking of musketry 
prevails above the whole reedy shores of the river. In 
these excursions, it is not uncommon for an active and ex¬ 
pert 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 in¬ 
stances, however, are rare. The flight of these birds 
among the reeds, is usually low, and shelter being abun¬ 
dant, 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 
reeds, with their bills just above the surface ; sometimes, 
when wounded, they dive, and rising under the gunwale 
of the boat, secrete themselves there, moving round as the 
boat moves, until they have an opportunity of escaping 
unnoticed. They are feeble and delicate in every thing 
except the legs, which seem to possess great vigor and 
energy; and their bodies being so remarkably thin, and 
compressed so as to be less than an inch and a quarter 
through transversely, they are enabled to pass between 
the reeds like rats. When seen, they are almost constantly 
jetting up the tail, yet though their flight among the reeds 
seems feeble and fluttering, every sportsman who is ac¬ 
quainted with them here, must have seen them occasion¬ 
ally rising to a considerable height, stretching out their 
legs behind them, and flying rapidly across the river, 
where it is more than a mile in width. Such is the 
mode of Rail shooting in the neighborhood of Phila¬ 
delphia. 
“ In Virginia, particularly along the shores of James 
River, within the tide-water, where the Rail, or Sora, are 
found in prodigious numbers, they are also shot on the 
wing, but more usually taken at night in the following 
manner:— 
“ A kind of iron grate is fixed on the top of a stout pole, 
which is placed like a mast in a light canoe, and filled 
with fire. The darker the night, the more successful is 
the sport. The person who manages the canoe, is pro¬ 
vided with a light paddle, ten or twelve feet in length ; 
and about an hour before high water, proceeds through 
among the reeds, which lie broken and floating on the 
surface. The whole space, for a considerable way 
round the canoe, is completely enlightened—the birds 
start with astonishment, and, as they appear, are knocked 
over the head with a paddle, and thrown into the canoe. 
In this manner, from twenty to eighty dozen have 
been killed by three negroes in the short space of three 
hours. 
“ At the same season, or a little earlier, they are very 
numerous in the lagoons near Detroit, on our northern 
frontier, where another species of reed, of which they are 
equally fond, grows in shallows, in great abundance. 
Gentlemen who have shot them there, and on whose judg¬ 
ment I can rely, assure me that they differ in nothing from 
those they have usually killed on the shores of the Dela¬ 
ware and Schuylkill; they are equally fat, and exquisite 
eating.” 
To this I shall only add, that a very light charge of 
powder and three-quarters of an oz. of No. 9 shot will be 
found quite sufficient to kill this slow flying bird. I have 
found it an excellent plan to have a square wooden box, 
with two compartments, one holding ten lbs. of shot, with 
a small tin scoop, containing your charge, and the other 
containing a quantum suff. of wadding, placed on the 
thwarts of the boat, before you, and to lay your powder 
flask beside it, by doing which you will save much time 
in loading ; a great desideratum where birds rise in such 
quick succession as these will do at times, a couple of 
hundred being some times killed by one gun in a single 
tide. 
A landing net on a long light pole will be found 
very convenient for recovering dead birds. No rules are 
needed for killing rail, as they lie so close and fly so 
slowly that a mere bungler can scarce miss them, unless 
he either gets flurried or tumbles overboard. When dead 
he is to be roasted, underdone, like the snipe, served on a 
slice of crisp buttered toast, with no condiment save a 
little salt and his own gravy. If you are wise, gentle 
reader, you will lay his ghost to rest with red wine—Bur¬ 
gundy if you can get it, if not, with claret. For supper 
he is undeniable, and I confess that, for my own part, I 
more appreciate the pleasure of eating, than the sport of 
slaying him; and so peace to him for the present, of 
which he surely will enjoy but little after the twentieth 
of September, until the early frosts shall drive him to his 
asylums, in the far southern wilds and waters. 
THE £W2>. 
