though numbers linger in the warm southern marshes the whole winter. A very worthy gentleman, Mr. Harrison, who lives in Kittiwan, near a creek of that name, on the borders of James river, informed me, that in burning his meadows early in March, they generally raise and destroy several of these birds. That the great body of these Rail, winter in countries beyond the United States, is rendered highly probable from their being so frequently met with at sea, between our shores and the West India islands. A captain Douglass informed me, that on his voyage from St. Domingo to Philadelphia, and more than a hundred miles from the capes of the Delaware, one night the man at the helm was alarmed by a sudden crash on deck that broke the glass in the binnacle, and put out the light. On examining into the cause, three Rail were found on deck, two of which were killed on the spot, and the other died soon after. The late bishop Madison, president of William and Mary college, Virginia, assured me, that a Mr. Skipwith, for some time our consul in Europe, on his return to the United States, when upwards of three hundred miles from the capes of the Chesapeak, several Rail or Soras, I think five or six came on board, and were caught by the people. Mr. Skipwith being well acquainted with the bird assured him that they were the very same with those usually killed on James river. I have received like assurances from several other gentlemen and captains of vessels who have met with these birds between the main land and the islands, so as to leave no doubt on my mind of the fact. For, why should it be considered incredible that a bird which can both swim and dive well, and at pleasure fly with great rapidity, as I have myself frequently witnessed, should be incapable of migrating like so many others over extensive tracts of land or sea? Inhabiting as they do the remote regions of Hudson's Bay, where it is impossible they could subsist during the rigours of their winter, they must either emigrate from thence or perish; and as the same places in Pennsylvania which abound with them in October are often laid under ice and snow during the winter, it is as impossible that they could exist here in that inclement season; Heaven has therefore given them in common with many others, certain prescience of these circumstances, and judgment as well as strength of flight sufficient to seek more genial climates, abounding with their suitable food.

During the greater part of the months of September and October the market of Philadelphia is abundantly supplied with Rail, which are sold from half a dollar to a dollar a dozen. Soon after the twentieth of October, at which time our first smart frosts generally take place, these birds move off to the south. In Virginia they usually remain until the first week in November.

Since the above was written, I have received from Mr. George

Ord of Philadelphia, some curious particulars relative to this bird, which, as they are new, and come from a gentleman of respectability, well known for his dexterity at Rail shooting, are worthy of being recorded, and merit further investigation.

My personal experience,' says Mr. Ord, has made me acquainted with a fact in the history of the Rail, which, perhaps is not generally known; and I shall, as briefly as possible, communicate it to you. Some time in the autumn of the year 1809, as I was walking in a yard, after a severe shower of rain, I perceived the feet of a bird projecting from a spout. I pulled it out, and discovered it to be a Rail, very vigorous, and in perfect health. The bird was placed in a small room, on a gin-case; and I was amusing myself with it, when, in the act of pointing my finger at it, it suddenly sprang forward, apparently much irritated, fell on the floor, and stretching out its feet, and bending its neck until the head nearly touched the back, became to all appearance lifeless. Thinking the fall had killed the bird, I took it up, and began to lament my rashness in provoking it. In a few minutes it again breathed, and it was some time before it perfectly recovered from the fit, into which, it now appeared evident it had fallen. I placed the Rail in a room wherein Canary birds were confined; and resolved that, on the succeeding day, I would endeavour to discover whether or no the passion of anger had produced the fit. I entered the room at the appointed time and approached the bird, which had retired on beholding me, in a sullen humour, to a corner. On pointing my finger at it, its feathers were immediately ruffled; and in an instant it sprang forward, as in the first instance, and fell into a similar fit. The following day the experiment was repeated with the like effect. In the fall of 1811 as I was gunning amongst the reeds, in pursuit of Rail, I perceived one rise but a few feet before my batteau. The bird had risen about a yard when it became entangled in the tops of a small bunch of reeds, and immediately fell. Its feet and neck were extended, as in the instance above mentioned; and before it had time to recover I killed it. Some few days afterwards as a friend and I were gunning in the same place, he shot a Rail, and as we approached the spot to pick it up, another was perceived not a foot off in a fit. I took up the bird, and placed it in the crown of my hat. In a few moments it revived, and was as vigorous as ever. These facts go to prove, that the Rail is subject to gusts of passion, which operate to so violent a degree as to produce a disease; similar in its effects to epilepsy. I leave the explication of the phenomenon to those physiologists who are competent and willing to investigate it: It may be worthy of remark, that the birds affected as described, were all females of the Rallus Virginianus, or common Rail.

"The Rail, though generally reputed a simple bird, will sometimes manifest symptoms of considerable intelligence. To those acquainted with Rail-shooting it is hardly necessary to mention, that the tide in its flux, is considered an almost indispensable auxiliary; for, when the water is off the marsh, the lubricity of the mud, the height and compactness of the reed, and the swiftness of foot of the game, tend to weary the sportsman and to frustrate his endeavours. Even should he succeed in a tolerable degree, the reward is not commensurate to the labour. I have entered the marsh in a batteau at a common tide, and in a well-known haunt have beheld but few birds. The next better tide, on resorting to the same spot, I have perceived abundance of game. The fact is, the Rail dive and conceal themselves beneath the fallen reed, merely projecting their heads above the surface of the water for air, and remain in that situation until the sportsman has passed them; and it is well known, that it is a common practice with wounded Rail to dive to the bottom, and holding upon some vegetable substance, support themselves in that situation until exhausted. During such times, the bird, in escaping from one enemy, has often to encounter another not less formidable.-Eels and cat-fish swarm in every direction, prowling for prey; and it is ten to one if a wounded Rail escapes them. I myself have beheld a large eel make off with a bird that I had shot, before I had time to pick it up; and one of my boys, in bobbing for eels, caught one with a whole Rail in his belly.

'I have heard it observed, that on the increase of the moon the Rail improves in fatness, and decreases in a considerable degree with that planet. Sometimes I have conceited that the remark was just. If it be a fact, I think it may be explained on the supposition, that the bird is enabled to feed at night, as well as by day, while it has the benefit of the moon, and with less in'terruption than at other periods.'

NEGLECTED BIOGRAPHY.

Full many a gem of purest ray serene,
The dark, unfathom'd caves of ocean bear,

Full many a flow'r is born to blush unseen,

And waste its sweetness on the desert air.... Gray.

BAILLY (JEAN SYLVAIN),

ONE of the forty of the French Academy, &c. deputy of Paris to the states-general. The name of Bailly is attached to events so important, it has completely exhausted the vicissitudes of fa- . vour and misfortune, it has so many titles to the remembrance of

the friends of the sciences, that history ought to transmit to posterity even the smallest details which can serve to illustrate the life of this celebrated man. Born at Paris on the 15th of September, 1736, nature had endowed him with all the talents which fit men for the study of the sciences, and for the meditations of philosophy. The advantage which he had in connecting himself with the celebrated Lacaille, determined his taste for astronomy. After several essays, which were well received by the public, he published his history of Astronomy, a work in which was manifested the hand of a great writer, who unites superior talent and brilliant colouring to vast knowledge. After the publication of various works, he received, in 1785, the reward which is most delightful to a man of letters, that in being appointed a member of the three first academical bodies in France. Some time after, being commissioned to examine into the proceedings of the animal magnetism of Mesmer, he destroyed, by his report, all the illusions of credulity. When the revolution broke out in 1789, the electors of Paris chose him as secretary, and then as deputy of the tiers-état to the states-general. He was president of this assembly in its first session. On the 6th of June, he complimented the king, at the head of the commons, complained of the delays made by the noblesse, in beginning the labours of the states-general, and asserted the devotion of the tiers-état to the maintenance of the rights of the throne. The commons having formed themselves into a national assembly, on the 17th of June, Bailly was continued president; and it was he who, on the 20th, when the king forbade the commons to meet, collected the assembly, and conducted them to the tenis-court, where he presided at the famous sitting, which was in a manner the opening of the revolution. When the master of the ceremonies came from the king, to order the members of the tiers-état to leave the room, Bailly answered him, that the assembled nation had no orders to receive. He claimed, in his rank of president, the right of being the first to take an oath not to separate till they had established the constitution on a solid basis. On the 16th of July he was appointed mayor of Paris, by the permanent committee, after the assassination of M. de Flesselles. On the 17th, he received the king at the town hall, and presented to him the national cockade in the speech which he addressed to this prince, was remarked the following sentence: Henry IV. had conquered his people; here it is the people who have re-conquered its king.' He was again proclaimed mayor on this same day. In this character, on the 25th of August, he took the following oath to the king: 'Sire, I swear to God, between the hands of your majesty, to cause your lawful authority to be respected, to preserve the sacred rights of the corporation of Paris, and to do justice to all men.'

He then offered to the king a nosegay, wrapt in a piece of gauze, on which was written, in letters of gold, Homage to Louis XVI. the best of kings.' On the day of the 6th of October, he came to receive the king at the barrier, and made him a long speech, to which Louis returned only these words: Sir, it is always with pleasure and confidence that I find myself in the midst of the inhabitants of my good city of Paris.' On the 19th, when the assembly came and held its first meeting at Paris, he complimented it, and, in his speech, did nothing but eulogise the city of Paris, Lafayette, and himself. On the 5th of February, 1790, he went to congratulate the king on his being present the day before at the assembly, and on the speech that he had made there; he told him, among other things, that he united all the titles of the beloved monarchs, Louis the just, Louis the good, Louis the wise, and soon Louis the great.' When, after the flight of the king, the parties were completely divided, and when the violent revolutionists wished to seize this opportunity for pronouncing the forfeiture of Louis XVI. Bailly obeying the suggestions of Lafayette, opposed the ferments excited in Paris in favour of the party of the forfeiture; a party which counted in its ranks the most declared jacobins, and the partisans of the house of Orleans. An immense crowd having thronged to the Champ de Mars, to frame an address to this effect, on the 17th of July, 1791, he caused martial law to be proclaimed against this assembly, which was dispersed by the armed force. The national assembly approved this step; but from this time Bailly perceived that his credit was sinking; on the 19th September, he sent to the municipal body his resignation, which he attributed to the impaired state of his health. In consequence of the refusal of this body, and the supplications that were made to him, he again resumed his functions. He vacated the office of mayor in the early part of November. It was on the 18th that he presented his successor, Petion, to the general council of the corporation; he then went to pass some time in England, and afterwards returned to Paris. Become odious to the people, whose idol he had been, he hoped to be forgotten by burying himself in study aud retirement. Concealed in the environs of Melun, he remained there in quiet till after the 30th May, which revived, with the power of revenge, the remembrance of the bloody scene of the Champ de Mars. Bailly, discovered to the researches of the agents of Robespierre, was arrested in October, 1793, sent to Paris, thence to the Magdelonettes, thence transferred to the Conciergerie, and brought to trial on the 10th of November, before the revolutionary tribunal, by Fouquier Tinville. This tribunal condemned him to death for having plotted with Capet, his wife, and others, for disturbing public tranquillity, exciting civil war, and