192 
THE CAROLINA RAIL. 
where there are hundreds, without seeing probably a single 
individual. 
The flight of the Rails, while confined among the rice 
reeds, is low, feeble, and fluttering, with the legs hanging 
down, as if the effort were unnatural and constrained, which 
may, no doubt, at times, be produced by the extreme cor- 
pulency which they attain in a favourable season for food ; 
yet, occasionally, they will rise to a considerable height, 
and cross considerable streams without any reluctance or 
difficulty ; so that however short may be their wings, the 
muscles by which they are set in motion are abundantly 
sufficient to provide them the means of pursuing the de- 
liberate stages of their migratory course. Wherever the 
Zizania and its nutritious grain abounds, there the Rails 
are generally seen. 
In the reedy lakes of Michigan, as well as the tide-water 
streams of the Atlantic, these birds are found congregated, 
in quest of their favourite food. In Virginia, they are par 
ticularly abundant along the grassy banks of James River, 
within the bounds of tide-water, where they are often taken 
in the night, while perched among the reeds ; being stupi- 
fied by the glare of a fire carried in among them, they are 
then easily approached by a boat, and rudely knocked on 
the head with a paddle ; sometimes in such quantities, that 
three negroes, in as many hours, have been known to kill 
from twenty to eighty dozen. 
Fear seems to be a ruling passion among the whole tribe 
