176 CAME BIRDS OF NORTH AMERICA. 



cries, and we have sometimes drawn a dozen lairds to the edge of 

 the rushes, where they would stand and peer about until some 

 slight movement drove them back to their cover. 



Ordinarily they seem very much averse to using their wings, 

 and prefer to trust for safety to their powers of running and hid- 

 ing. If possible they will always run to the thick grass or " cat- 

 tails," which the sportsman's boat cannot penetrate. When they 

 have not time to reach such places of refuge they may usually be 

 forced to fly, though they will sometimes hide in a bunch of grass, 

 and permit the boat to be pushed directly over them. Wounded 

 birds resort to every expedient of diving, swimming under water 

 and hiding, and unless the situation is exceptionally favorable for 

 the marker, they are more often lost than secured. We have 

 known them to cling for several minutes to the grass at the bot- 

 tom, and it is believed that they sometimes drown in this way, 

 rather than expose themselves to the chance of being captured. 

 One of their commonest modes of concealment is to sink in the 

 water near a clump of grass, leaving only the bill exposed above 

 water, and this small object partially concealed by the surrounding 

 grass is easily overlooked. 



Ralhis longirostris. — Bodd. Clapper Rail. Salt-water Marsh-hen. Mud-hen. 



Colors above variegated with dark olive-brown and pale olive- 

 ash, which edges the feathers ; below, dull ochre-brown whitening 

 on the throat, often ashy on the breast, flanks, fuscous-grey, with 

 white bars, eyelids and short superciliary stripe whitish. Young 

 birds are dirty-white below. The length is about fourteen- to six- 

 teen inches. It inhabits the salt marshes of our Atlantic coast, 

 as far north as Massachusetts, although comparatively rare north 

 of Connecticut. They are exceedingly averse to flying, and prefer 

 to seek safety by their powers of concealment, which are sometimes 

 marvellously exhibited. When, however, a dog follows the scent, 

 and there are no convenient holes into which they may creep, they 

 take to flight, making a very clumsy figure on the wing, dropping 

 suddenly into the grass, and scampering off as fast as possible. 

 Their flesh is poor, and the capturing of this, as well as the two 

 following species, is a matter of chance. The Clapper Rail, how- 

 ever, is only so difficult to secure in the Middle States. Further 



