RAILS AND 'RAIL SHOOTING. • Any birds belonging 'to the typical genera of the family Rallsde are popularly called rails, prob.. ably in reference to their harsh rattling cries, but the name is more particularly applied to certain species, other being known as marsh hens; crakes, etc. 'The family is included in the order Grail's or Gruiforeres. The family is a large one composed of numerous species of moderately sized birds of generalized structure, found in most parts of the world.- The body is compressed, the legs strong, the feet very large with long toes, which are lobately webbed in the coats, the wings and tail very short, the bill strong and variously shaped,. but never greatly elongated nor provided with asensitivei tip, and the colors are usually obscure and sober. About 35 genera and 18(1 species of Rallide have been recognized, but authorities differ concerning the retention of some of the more aberrant forms within the family. Three subfafnilies are represented in the North Amer ican fauna: the Fulicince, or matt, with lobate marginal webs on the toes and a horny frontal shield; the Gallinulina, or gallinules, with a frontal shield, simple toes and usually richly, colored plumage, and the Ralline, or typical rails, in which the family characteristics are best i displayed and there is no frontal shield nor any webbing on the toes.
Most of the rails are marsh-loving birds, their long toes admirably serving to support them on the soft mud and their narrow com pressed bodies facilitating movements among the stems of grasses and reeds. Owing to their skulking and largely nocturnal habits they are difficult to observe and, except by gunners, their abundance is not generally known. They run well and to 'escape -danger trust to their, .ability to blip quietly into a place of concealment. They seldons by and, owing to the shortness of the• wings, only in a. weak, uncertain manner, but nevertheless some of the species perform ex tensive migrations. In feeding they are chiefly carnivorous, but never probe the mud for worms, etc., in the fashion of snipes, nor strain it•ad do thehdueks. The nest is usually a rude bulky platform of dried rushes,' etc., slightly elevated above the wet ground and the numer-. QUS eggs are thickly spotted. The young are fully downy and are said not only to run but to swim well as soon as hatched.
Besides the cornerake (Greg cres), which occasionally wanders front Europe to our shores, ll.specim of true rails occur within the boundaries of North America. They belong to two genera. The king rail (Rallus elegans) or fresinwater marsh-hen is our largest Spe cies, reaching a length. of 18 inches and a wing expanse of two .feet. It is 'known by the rich cinnamon and chestnut hues of the under parts and the strong streaking of the plumage above.• This species is abundant in the fresh-water marshes of the eastern United States but, al though occasionally seen in New England, is rather southerly. Except for its habitat and the, character of its food, which consists largely of. aquatic insects, leeches and wild rice in season,. the habits of the king rail closely resemble those of the next species. In the salt-water marshes. from Connecticut southward along the Atlantic and Gulf roasts the king rail is re•. placed by the well-known clapper rail or salt water marsh-hen (Raffia crepitans), which is extremely abundant from New Jersey south. ward and is resident in southern half of its range, -but migratory northward. It inhabits the reed-covered marshes intersected by ditches and Creeks which border so much of our coast within the beach line and its presence is daily evident during the season when the loud clattering cry.is'heatrd incessantly both by day and night. All kinds of snails, crusts. ceans and worms inhabiting such regions con. stitute its. food. The nest is a heap of dried rends and grasses elevated just above the water int the side of a ditch and asuallyconcealed by do .artful overarching of reeds. .As many as a
dozen, but-more frequently' about eight eggs, are laid; they are oval, of a cream or buff color and thickly blotched with brown and lavender tints. The clapper rail is slightly inferior to the king rail in size and is of a blended grayish color tone, rather than a'streaked red. Closely related species are the R. ofrsoletus of Cali fornia and R. scottii of Florida. The Virginia rail (R. virgriniantis) is about 9 or 10 inches long and in color a perfect miniature of the king rail. Unlike the latter it inhabits salt and tided water as well as inland marshes and is 'very widely distributed throughout Iteannertite .14,orth America and southward.It is a. regular vott grant, in most of the 'Northern Spates and Canada remaining from April to September to breed. Although generally common, they are best known by their nocturnal and diurnal cries, In nesting and other habits they' resemble the clapper rails, but the eggs are of course much smaller. The Carolina or sore rail or crake and the yellow rail belong to the genus Poraana, which differs from Roans in having the hill short- and .stout instead of long and slender, The former (P. caro/ine) is eight or nine inches long, brownish above and unspotted be low, the latter (P. moveboracensis) is only about six inches long, with much yellow above and the breast spotted. Both appear to range widely in North America, but the former is everywhere a far more abundant bird. The soca, also erroneously tailed ortolan, is the best known and during the migrations the most plentiful of the. rails in all suitable reedy marshes along the shores of lakes and rivers, and it breeds in similar localities in the Mid dle States and northward. A third related ape eyes, the black rail (P. jatnaicensis), is rarely taken. The North American rails are all birds, but the European corncrake prefer the cultivated' fields, and in New Zealand and other Southern islands many remarkable forms of field rails and some curious flightless and bur rowing species are found.
Rail-shooting in the autumn, when they, and particularly the Carolina rail, congregate an im mense numbers in the river swamps, has many followers; but it can hardly be callel a sport, being nearly on a par with the annual slaughter of reed birds which occurs at the same time and places. The method is very simple. Each gun ner has an assistant who poles him about in a flat-bottomed boat or skiff through the creeks and passages which everywhere intersect the swamps. Usually this is done at high tide, owing to the shallowness of the creeks at other times and because the rising water restricts the area on which the birds can run. Sometimes spaniels or other dogs are employed to drive the birds, but this is unnecessary, as they are easily seen as they run along the banks of the creeks or rise In short labored flight Enormous numbers, often running into the hundreds, may be secured by a,skilful shot who has mastered the problem of shooting from an unsteady boat. Doting the gunning season the sore feeds largely on the seeds of reeds and wild• grains, becomes very fat and is a truly delicate morsel. The other species are also sought but• to a less extent. At times of unusually high tides great numbers of clapper rails are killed along the New Jersey coast as they huddle bewildered on little Islands and masses of reeds in the flooded salt meadows. Immense numbers of the eggs of the same species are also gathered for food. Consult Baird, Brewer and Ridgway, 'North American Water Birds (Boston 1884), and Roosevelt, 'Game Water Birds) (New York, 1884) ; Newton, 'Dictionary of Birds' (New York 1896) ; Evans, A. H., 'Birds) (in 'Cam bridge Natural History,) Vol. IX, ib. 1900); Job, H. K., 'Among the Water-Fowl' (ib. 1902) and Bulletin 128 of the United States Department of Agriculture (Washington 1€0 4)