270 The Water-fowl Family 



same general appearance and similar flight, starts 

 up. This is a clapper rail, known by many of 

 our gunners as marsh hen. About Essex they are 

 rare. Sometimes, too, a mud hen flops out over 

 the tops. In some instances mud hens are quite 

 common on the rail grounds. The Florida galli- 

 nule is also a straggler here. Rail keep fluttering 

 from the grass, less often now, though, than an 

 hour ago, but you have some time since reached 

 the limit, — as well, for a falling tide makes the 

 pushing hard and the birds refuse to rise. Most 

 of the birds are soras ; occasionally the longer bill 

 and darker coloring mark a Virginian rail. An 

 occasional chattering note tells of the presence of 

 a rail, secure in the high grass, until the next high 

 tide. A lone bittern wings his way to some safer 

 spot, and this is our last glimpse of the marsh. 



THE RAIL FAMILY 



This family contains about one hundred and 

 eighty species of small or medium-sized birds. 

 They are scattered over most of the world, but 

 are more common in the tropics ; and three sub- 

 families, — the rails (Rallina^), Gallinules (Gallinu- 

 linse), and coots (Fulicinae), — containing fifteen or 

 sixteen species, are found in North America. All 

 have long and strong legs, with very powerful 

 thighs ; the toes are usually very long and not 



