204 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



CLAPPER RAIL 



Rallus crepitans crepitans Cmelin 



A. O. U. Number jii See Color I'late 25 



Other Names. — Common Clapper ; Marsh Clapper ; 

 Mud Hen; Sedge Hen; Meadow Hen; Salt-water 

 Marsh Hen. 



General Description. — Length, 16 inches. Color 

 above, brownish-gray ; below, lighter. Forehead entirely 

 feathered down to base of bill; bill, long and slender. 



Color. — Adults : Forehead, dusky ; crown, sides of 

 head, neck, upper parts, and lower parts as far as 

 abdomen, pale olh'C-asli streaked on back, shoulders, 

 and rump with olive-brown ; lores and throat, whitish ; 

 abdomen and under tail-coverts, pale brownish-white 

 traversed with broad indefinite bars of brownish-gray; 



wing-quills and tail, plain dusky-brown ; bill, yellow, 

 dusky on ridge and tip; feet, pale greenish-dusky; iris, 

 reddish-brown. There is much variation in the shades 

 of plumage, tall and winter birds being much darker and 

 with browner shades. DowNY YouNc: Glossy black. 



Nest and Eggs.— Nest: A platform of dead reeds 

 and grasses on the ground in meadows. Eggs : 6 to 15, 

 white to buff, dotted and blotched with chestnut and 

 some lavender. 



Distribution.— Salt marshes of the Atlantic coast; 

 breeds from Connecticut to North Carolina ; winters 

 mainly south of New Jersey; casual north to Maine. 



Grassy salt marshes are the haunts of the 

 Clapper Rail. P'rum Connecticut southward to 

 the Florida Keys they are undoubtedly more 

 numerous than any other species found in these 

 marshes. ( )ne does not find them everywhere in 

 their range but in the localities they like best the 

 grass seems to swarm with them. It is ordinarily 

 very difficult to flush them and one may wade 

 or push a boat through the marsh for hours and 



never see one while all the time their tantalizing 

 calls are heard near and far. Their facility in 

 keeping out of sight is most remarkable. From 

 Virginia southward they are much hunted during 

 the months of September and October. They are 

 shot from small boats when the tide is high and 

 the flooded marshes afiford no shelter wherein 

 the birds may hide. While one man poles the 

 boat a second stands in the bow and fires at the 



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Drawing by R, I. Brasher 



CLAPPER RAIL (i nat. size) 

 A noisy salt-water marsh bird 



