Virginian Rail

Virginian Rail [now Virginia Rail]
Rallus virginianus, Linnaeus [now Rallus limicola]
Octavo edition, plate 311

“This species, which, although smaller, bears a great resemblance to the Great Red-breasted Rail or Fresh-water Marsh-hen, is met with in most parts of the United States at different seasons. Many spend the winter within our southern limits, and I have found them at that time in Lower Louisiana . . . it obtains its food as well in saltwater marshes as in fresh meadows, watery savannahs, and the borders of ponds and rivers . . . The males usually arrive at the breeding-places a week or ten days before the females . . . As soon as they arrive at their destination, they may be heard emitting their cries about sunset, occasionally through the night, and again with increased vigour at the dawn of day, as if expressing their impatience for the arrival of their companions. The love-notes of this species have some resemblance to those of the Clapper Rail, but now and then are changed for others something like crek, crek, creek, or creek, creek, creek. Being expert ventriloquists, like their congeners, they sometimes seem to be far off, when in fact they are within a few yards of you. One morning I had the good fortune to witness their amatory gestures, which I will here try to describe, that you may in some degree participate in the amusement which the scene afforded me . . . The notes of the Rail came loudly on my ear, and on moving towards the spot whence they proceeded, I observed the bird exhibiting the full ardour of his passion. Now with open wings raised over its body, it ran around its beloved, opening and flirting its tail with singular speed. Each time it passed before her, it would pause for a moment, raise itself to the full stretch of its body and legs, and bow to her with all the grace of a well-bred suitor of our own species. The female also bowed in recognition, and at last, as the male came nearer and nearer in his circuits, yielded to his wishes, on which the pair flew off in the manner of house-pigeons, sailing and balancing their bodies on open wings until out of sight. During this exhibition, the male emitted a mellow note, resembling the syllables cuckoe, cuckoe, to which the female responded with the kind of lisping sound uttered by young birds of the species when newly hatched.”

John James Audubon, Birds of America (New York: J.J. Audubon; Philadelphia: J. B. Chevalier, 1840-1844), vol. 5, pp. 174-175.

View bird in National Audubon Society Guide to North American Birds.