368 Simmons, The Louisiana Clapper Rail. LJuiy 



ana Clapper Rail. But those marshes are only found along the 

 shores; the marshes inland are much smaller and of course are 

 not tide-washed. 



The extensive marshes on Bolivar Peninsula cover a strip vary- 

 ing from a half mile to nearly a mile wide, all covered with tall 

 marsh grass. This low marsh ground extends along the bay side 

 of the peninsula from the "Point" to Flake. Numerous sluggish 

 bayous cross this strip and connect with Galveston Bay; in places 

 these bayous widen into small ponds or lagoons, the edges of which 

 are thickly covered with tall, rank marsh grass. 



A marshy bayou flows through Port Bolivar, on the "Point," 

 to the bay, forming quite a pond near the bay shore. About 

 three-quarters of a mile up from the mouth of the bayou it again 

 widens into something of a pond or lagoon, known locally as " Horse 

 Shoe Lake." The edges of both ponds are also thickly covered 

 with tall, rank marsh grass. 



Harbor Island, where Messrs. Farley, Prior and Carroll studied 

 the Rails, has about twenty-five acres well covered with tall 

 marsh grass and boggy with salt water, indeed a typical salt water 

 marsh. 



Vast marshes extend from Nueces Bay ten miles up the Nueces 

 River. They are bordered by reeds and sedge, and dotted with 

 numerous small ponds. 



From the timber of the Brazos River bottoms northward and 

 eastward along the coast is the low, nearly level coast prairie of 

 Texas. The only vegetation of this prairie is the tall grass, usually 

 burned brown by the hot summer sun and killed by the cold 

 "northers" which sweep over Texas in winter; here and there a 

 huisache {Vachellia farnesiana) and an occasional 'motte' of three 

 or four scrubby oaks serve to break the monotony. A few slowly 

 winding bayous cross this plain, but the water in them rarely ever 

 flows; these bayous are generally skirted by timber, but many of 

 them contain marshy spots overgrown with tall grass, reeds and 

 sedge. At the mouths of these bayous the country is usually so 

 flat and low that the water spreads over a considerable area, 

 forming innumerable marshy flats and salt water marshes, where 

 tall grass, reeds and sedge grow in abundance. 



In winter large numbers of ducks and other water-fowl attract 



