RAILS 
Carolina rails, or soras, stand habitually motionless, deep in tangled 
marshes. These timid, gray-brown birds are virtually invisible among the 
reeds, and their presence is detected only by the whistling call of ker-wee, 
ker-wee, issuing from the throats of a dozen phantom birds. Even in places 
where the vegetation is not so thick, it requires a keen eye to see their 
dull-colored plumage. When alarmed or annoyed, their note is kuk or else 
peep , depending on their mood. 
Occasionally the soras venture out of the reeds to feed, but their 
usual diet of insects, worms, mollusks and seeds is found within the marshes. 
They move their long, slender legs gingerly, bobbing their heads as they 
walk and darting back to cover at the slightest sound. They are swift run¬ 
ners, as their slender bodies enable them to slip rapidly through the marsh 
thickets. Their flight is slow and weak, and they prefer running to flying. 
Sometimes they even swim streams rather than fly. Rails are accomplished 
divers. 
In the fall they live largely on wild rice and oats, and then they grow 
very fat. At this season they are hunted from flat boats, and as the rail 
waits until the last minute before taking to feeble flight, it offers an easy 
mark. Soras inhabiting salt marshes are hunted with the help of the rising 
tide which drives them to the highest point in the marsh. Here the hunters 
lie in wait and are frequently able to kill many of the weak-winged birds 
as they take to the air. 
Soras breed in the marshes, making a slight nest of grasses, supported 
on a tussock. The mother bird lays from eight to fifteen drab-colored, brown- 
spotted eggs. The young, which are born covered with blackish down, take 
to the water as soon as hatched. 
Carolina rails live in the United States from April to September. 
In the fall they migrate southward in large numbers. 
In the remote Tristan da Cunha Islands of the South Atlantic a species 
of flightless rail is found. It was discovered by the exploring ship “Chal¬ 
lenger” in 1872 and is known locally as the rock chicken. 
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