BIRDS OF CUBA 53 



met with. A tiny pond choked with long grass in an open pasture, a stream 

 meandering slowly through some open meadows, these are the favored 

 spots. They do not frequent the great marshes of the Zapata region nor 

 the larger lakes. Long lush grass in shallow water, and a quiet situation, 

 and the scattered pairs live a retired and colorless existence. They may 

 sometimes be flushed just once, when come upon very suddenly, but their 

 presence is generally made known by tracks in the mud and the rattling 

 call at dusk. When the rains come on they are sometimes seen in the drier 

 pastures and grassy fields, doubtless because the water has become too 

 deep for comfort in their wonted haunts. 



Ramsden found a low bridge over a small stream, under which the 

 Rails were accustomed to pass, and by trapping at this point he secured 

 a number of specimens, including the series which, when sent to Riley, 

 afforded the type of this distinct form. 



71. Rallus longirostris cubanus Chapman. 

 Cuban Clapper or Mangrove Rail; Gallinuela de los Manglares. 



The Mangrove Rails abound everywhere where mangrove forests 

 fringe the coasts. They are heard often, and many cackling voices cry 

 out, reacting to some sudden noise, a gunshot or a gunwale hit with an 

 oar. They are seen only by chance, except that occasionally they have a 

 liking for walking along the water's edge at dead low tide. The maze of 

 trunks and aerial stolons, so familiar to those who have tried to walk 

 among the mangroves, gives the Rails an ideal refuge; so also the clouds of 

 mosquitoes emerging from the crab-holes discourage one who would wait 

 for a shot. Thus Brooks and I have occasionally killed an odd Rail, and 

 J. L. Peters in February, 191 5, found a swamp being cleared of mangroves 

 near Nipe Bay and shot a nice series of Rails which haunted the brush-piles 

 of extirpated mangroves awaiting fire, and which were loath to leave their 

 immemorial home. Our way of securing Rails was to find where the 

 fringing zone of coastal mangroves was not too wide. Then with machetes 

 we cut a path from upland to the shore. A fence about two feet high was 

 set out down the path — a fence simply of sticks set side by side. In this 

 little six-inch gaps were left open, every three yards or so. Traps in these 

 gaps — well padded — would catch every Rail near by, and a fine series 

 could soon be secured. We tried this in the Isle of Pines, on the shore of 

 the Rio Casas, near Nueva Gerona, and in a few hours had a fine series of 

 R. I. leucophaeus Todd, far more than would have been secured in months 

 by the ordinary ways of hunters and collectors. 



