THE CAROLINA RAIL. 
195 
hours before high water, they enter the reeds, the sportsman 
taking his place in the bow ready for action • while the 
boatman in the stern-seat pushes her steadily through the 
reeds. 
The Rails generally spring singly, as the boat advances, 
and at a short distance ahead, are instantly shot down, 
while the boatman, keeping his eye on the spot where the 
bird fell, directs the vessel forward, and picks it up as the 
gunner is loading. 
In this manner the boat continues through and over the 
wild-rice marsh, the birds flushing and falling, the gunner 
loading and firing, while the helmsman is pushing and pick- 
ing up the game ; which sport continues till an hour or two 
after high water, when its shallowness, and the strength 
and weight of the floating reeds, as also the unwillingness 
of the game to spring as the tide decreases, oblige them to 
return. 
Several boats are sometimes within a short distance of 
each other, and a perpetual cracking of musketry prevails 
along the whole reedy shores of the river. In these 
excursions, it is not uncommon for an active and expert 
marksman to kill ten or twelve dozen in the serving of a 
single tide. 
