238 lewis's AMERICAN SPORTSMAN. 



insipid, drj, and sedgy. This fowl is not known in Europe, l^ut it 

 somewhat resembles the moor-hen (Furtica chlorophus) of England, 

 both in its habits, size, and the savorless character of its meat. 



Clapper-rails are extremely shy and secret in their habits, and 

 are only to be found along the salt marshes of the sea-shore and 

 the large rivers of the Atlantic States. They are always abun- 

 dant in New Jersey and Delaw^are, and sometimes quite numerous 

 in the brackish fens of Long Island. The mud-hen is a migratorv 

 bird, and arrives from the South on the coast of New Jersey and 

 the neighboring States about the middle of April. Though coming 

 unobserved in the stillness of the night, they soon make their 

 presence known to the inhabitants of those districts by the sound 

 of their harsh and never-ceasing cackle, somewhat resembling the 

 well-known tremulous cry of the Guinea-fowd, Although the 

 marshes and sedgy meadow^s, in the course of a very few days 

 after their first appearance, resound on all sides with the unmelo- 

 dious notes of these skulking birds, few or none of them are to be 

 seen, as they seldom take wing, and when pursued run with amaz- 

 ing rapidity through the tangled weeds and high grass which always 

 grow so luxuriantly in the haunts that they affect. In our youth- 

 ful days we have had many a race after a wounded clapper, and 

 know full w^ell that our powers of speed and endurance were often 

 most fruitlessly taxed in the arduous chase. 



The mud-hen commences laying towards the close of May ; the 

 nest is simple, but often artfully contrived for concealment, having 

 the long grass twisted and plaited over it in the form of an arch, 

 so as effectually to conceal it from the glance of an inexperienced 

 observer. Eight or ten eggs are usually found in their nests : we 

 have seen as many as fifteen. The eggs are eagerly sought after 

 by the residents of these parts, who, in fact, consider them far 

 superior in delicacy to those of the domestic hen. The wholesale 

 robbery of their nests is not the only interruption that the clapper- 

 rail meets with during the period of incubation, as the marshes are 

 occasionally overflown during the continuance of a northeast gale, 

 and thousands of eggs as well as old birds arc destroyed. 



