RALLUS LONGIROSTRIS CREPITANS I CLAPPER RAIL. 



FAM. RALLIDyE; RAILS AND THEIR ALLIES. 



CLAPPER RAIL, OR SALT-WATER MARSH- 

 HEN. 



RALLUS LONGIROSTRIS CREPITANS (Gm.) Ridg. 



Chars. Bill longer than head, slender, decurved, with long nasal 

 groove extending beyond its middle. Nostrils linear, sub-basal. 

 Hind toe not one half as long as tarsus. Above, variegated 

 with dark olive-brown and pale olive-ash, the latter edging the 

 feathers. Below, pale dull ochrey-brown, whitening on the 

 throat, frequently ashy shaded on the breast ; the flanks, axillars 

 and crissum fuscous-gray, with sharp narrow white bars. Quills 

 and tail plain dark brown, without chestnut on the coverts ; eye- 

 lids and short superciliary line whitish. The general tone is 

 that of a gray bird, as compared with the reddish-brown cast of 

 R. elegans. Length, 14.00-16.00 ; extent about 20.00 ; wing, 5.00- 

 6.00; tail, 2.00-2.50 ; bill, 2.00-2.50; tarsus, 1.67-2.00; middle 

 toe and claw, 2.00-2.33. 



The New England range of this bird is not deter- 

 mined with absolute precision. The species is probably 

 to be regarded as a straggler in most of New England, 

 and as a locally distributed summer visitor all along the 

 coasts of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. 

 To dispose first of the earlier records, we may note that 

 Linsley took the bird at Stratford, Conn., where he 

 states it "breeds abundantly " (Am. Journ. Sci., xliv, 

 1843, p. 267). The species is also given as of New 

 England, in more or less general terms, by Putnam, Pr. 

 Essex Inst., i, 1856, p. 229; Allen, Pr. Essex Inst, iv, 

 1864, p. 87 ; Samuels, Orn. N. E., 1867, p. 471 ; Coues, 



