274 
FRANK FORESTER^ FIELD SPORTS. 
RAIL; AND RAIL SHOOTING. 
HIS singular and delicious little bird 
is so peculiar in its character and 
habits, although of an order which 
affords several species of our most 
esteemed game, viz.: Grallatores, and 
the mode of pursuing and shooting it 
is so distinct from any other kinds of 
sport, that I have judged it best te 
keep it under a head entirely separate from other held sports, 
with no one of which, in truth, has it the smallest connexion 01 
alliance. 
“ Rcdlus Carolinus—Ortygometra Carolinus—the Carolina Rail— 
the Sora Rail — vulgo, the Rail. 
“ Male 9?.14. 
“ Passes across the United States, both by the interior and 
along the coast. Some breed in New Jersey. Rarely seen 
east of Massachusetts. Extremely abundant in autumn on the 
Delaware and other streams furnished with wild oats. A few 
reside in Florida and Louisiana in winter. 
“ Adult male. 
“ Bill shorter than the head, rather stout, deep, compressed, 
tapering. Upper mandible with the dorsal outline nearly 
straight, being slightly convex toward the end, the ridge flattisli 
for a very short space at the base, very slightly extended on the 
forehead, narrow in the rest of its extent; the sides convex 
toward the end, the edges sharp, inflected, with a slight sinus 
