A Day on the Bay Shore. 



off on the water we see a line of black- 

 bodied cormorants lumbering over the 

 surface of the tide. 



It is time to inspect some of the 

 birds about us with more care. What 

 is that queer, ungainly form skulking 

 in the marsh-grass? It is a bird about 

 the size of a bantam hen, but with 

 a longer neck, with slender bill and 

 legs, and a body curiously compressed 

 sidewise. It is elusive, running away 

 into the tangle of swamp weeds and 

 baffling pursuit. Patience enables us to 

 get a good, clear view of the creature, 

 and we feel certain that the California 

 clapper rail must be unique among 

 birds, so different is he from any 

 feathered creature we have ever seen 

 before. His lank figure and furtive 

 manner stamp him at once as an un- 

 social, suspicious creature, and I dare 

 say he has had good reason to become 

 so. His back is somewhat streaked 

 and varied in shades of olive-brown 

 and ashy, and his breast is plain cinna- 

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