V-B-35 



Oney, J. 1951. Food habits of the clapper rail in Georgia. Journal 

 of Wildlife Management 15:106-107. 



The report summarizes findings from 669 clapper rail. Rail us 

 lonqirostris . gizzards collected in coastal Georgia during October 

 and November 1947. Most specimens were probably of the Wayne's 

 clapper rail subspecies ( Rallus 1 . waynei ) and very probably some 

 individuals of the northern clapper rail ( Rallus 1 . crepitans ) . 

 The winter range of the latter subspecies extends into Georgia. 



Sixty-one kinds of food were found in the clapper rails' gizzards, 

 but most of these foods occurred in small quantities--traces of fractions 

 of one percent. Ten of the 61 foods constituted 97 percent 

 volumetrically of the whole diet. The clapper rail's diet in 

 Georgia during the late fall was found to be composed almost wholly 

 of animal foods. Cordgrasses ( Spartina ) are the chief plant 

 components of the marshes, yet their seeds constituted only traces 

 in this series. 



Crabs of several species were found to be common in the tidal 

 marshes and the principal source of the rail's food— totaling nearly 

 75 percent. The square-backed fiddler crabs ( Sesarma ) occur 

 typically in soft mud along the sloughs and creeks and are more 

 inclined to be solitary in habit than the common fiddler crabs ( Uca ) . 

 The latter are found abundantly on higher ground in the marsh. 

 The square-backs seem to be the less abundant of these two, yet the 

 data show that they are eaten to a much greater extent. Crabs of 

 the genera Eurytium and Panopeus are fairly abundant in the marsh. 

 The latter seems to be the less common of the two. 



The snail Littorina irrorata is common over all of the marsh. 

 It is ingested whole by the rails. Insects, though plentiful in 

 the marshes and taken commonly in small amounts, would be of little 

 apparent importance to the clapper rail except for the cutworm moth, 

 family Phalaenidae. Spiders and small fish constitute a small part 

 of the diet. (G.S.) 



Keywords: clapper rail, food habits, tidal marshes, Georgia 



V-B-36 



Adams, D.A., and T.L. Quay. 1958. Ecology of the clapper rail in south- 

 eastern North Carolina. Journal of Wildlife Management 22:149-156. 



The breeding biology, seasonal populations, and behavior of the 

 clapper rail were studied at Southport, N.C., in 1955-1956. The 

 wintering population was small, and confined primarily to the mixed 

 grass and grass-shrub communities at the more elevated fringes of 



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