234 BIRDS IN THEIR RELATIONS TO MAN. 



shy and hard to flush, depending- for safety more upon their 

 legs than upon their wings. They fly awkwardly and with 

 seeming difficulty, a puzzling matter when the extent of their 

 migration is considered. 



The members of the genus Rallus, comprising- the Clapper, 

 King, and Virginia Rails, have bills longer than the head, and 

 feed chiefly upon grasshoppers, snails, slugs, small crabs, 

 aquatic insects, and occasionally a few seeds. The clapper 

 rail frequents salt-marshes as far north as Massachusetts. 



HEAD OF CLAPPER RAIL. 



The rails are found from Texas to Kansas and eastward, 

 though in the East not usually north of the Middle States. 

 Seven stomachs of king rails taken at different times between 

 May and October and opened by Aughey each contained from 

 seventeen to forty-eight locusts and from fourteen to forty-nine 

 other insects, besides a few seeds. The Virginia rail is the 

 most common rail in the Eastern States as far north as New 

 England. 



Members of the genus Porzana, including the Carolina 

 Rail, the Black Rail, and the Yellow Crake, have rather 



