CLAPPER RAIL. 375 



birds, as they are there acknowledged to be more than double in number 

 to all other marsh fowl. 



The Clapper Rail, or as it is generally called, the Mud-hen, soon an- 

 nounces its arrival in the salt marshes, by its loud, harsh and incessant 

 cackling, which very much resembles that of a Guinea fowl. This noise 

 is most general during the night ; and is said to be always greatest before 

 a storm. About the 20th of May, they generally commence laying and 

 building at the same time ; the first egg being usually dropped in a 

 slight cavity, lined with a little dry grass, pulled for the purpose, which, 

 as the number of the eggs increase to their usual complement, ten, is 

 gradually added to, until it rises to the height of twelve inches or more, 

 doubtless to secure it from the rising of the tides. Over this, the long 

 salt grass is artfully arched, and knit at top, to conceal it from the view 

 above : but this very circumstance enables the experienced egg-hunter 

 to distinguish the spot at the distance of thirty or forty yards, though 

 imperceptible to a common eye. The eggs are of a pale clay color, 

 sprinkled with small spots of dark red, and measure somewhat more 

 than an inch and a half in length, by one inch in breadth, being rather 

 obtuse at the small end. These eggs are exquisite eating, far surpass- 

 ing those of the domestic hen. The height of laying is about the 1st 

 of June, when the people of the neighborhood go oif to the marshes an 

 egging, as it is called. So abundant are the nests of this species, and 

 so dexterous some persons at finding them, that one hundred dozens of 

 eggs have been collected by one man in a day. At this time the crows, 

 the foxes, and the minxes, come in for their share; but not content 

 with the eggs, these last often seize and devour the parents also. The 

 bones, feathers, wings, &c., of the poor Mud-hen lie in heaps near the 

 hole of the minx ; by which circumstance, however, he himself is often 

 detected and destroyed. 



These birds are also subject to another calamity, of a more extensive 

 kind. After the greater part of the eggs are laid, there sometimes 

 happen violent north-east tempests, that drive a great sea iiito the bay, 

 covering the whole marshes ; so that at such times the Kail may be seen 

 in hundreds, floating over the marsh in great distress ; many escape to 

 the main land ; and vast numbers perish. On an occasion of this kind 

 I have seen, at one view, thousands in a single meadow, walking about 

 exposed and bewildered, while the dead bodies of the females, who had 

 perished on or near their nests, were strewed along the shore. This last 

 circumstance proves how strong the tics of maternal afl"ection are in 

 these birds ; for of the great numbers which I picked up and opened, 

 not one male was to be found among them ; all were females ! such as 

 had not yet begun to sit probably escaped. These disasters do not 

 prevent the survivors from recommencing the work of laying and build- 

 ing anew ; and instances have occurred, where their eggs have been 



