UPLAND SHOOTING. 
289 
after which they soon enter those portions of the country in 
which they breed, and spend a short but agreeable season. 
“ Every person acquainted with the general movements of 
birds, either during the spring, when they pass northward, or 
the autumnal months, when they are on their way to milder 
climes, is aware that at the former period their anxiety to reach 
the breeding place is much greater than that which they feel at 
any other period. Thus, in its movement southward, the Sora, 
like all other Rails, when returning with its progeny, which are 
yet feeble, and unable to undergo much fatigue,»proceeds 
considerably slower than in spring; hence its appearance in 
autumn, in multitudes, in various places, where it is enticed, by 
an abundance of food and comparative security, to tarry for 
some time and recruit its strength. Thus in September and 
part of October, the Sora is found in great numbers on the 
borders of our great lakes, feeding. on wild oats, and on the 
reedy margins of the rivers of our middle districts. Several 
natural causes prevent birds of this species from following the 
seacoast of the United States while migrating, either in spring or 
in autumn, the principal of which is the absence of. their favor¬ 
ite Zizania marshes, which are but very rarely to be met with 
to the east of the State of New-York. This is probably the 
cause of the great rarity of this species in Massachusetts, while, 
so far as I know, none are ever found to the eastward of that 
State. These observations are corroborated by those of my 
friend, Thomas McCulloch, of Pictou, who never met with one 
of these birds during many years’ residence in that part of Nova 
Scotia. 
“ Having seen flocks of Soras winging their way close over 
the waters of the gulf of Mexico, and between Cape Florida and 
the main shores of the Carolinas, in the month of April, when 
they were moving directly toward Cape Lookout, I have very 
little doubt that many return in the same track, in the end of 
October, when the young, well-fed and strengthened, are able 
to follow their parents on wing, even across that wide expanse 
of water. I shall now dismiss this part of the subject by add- 
