88 BIRDS OF ALABAMA 



was seen on Blakely Island in Mobile River, February 3, 1912. 

 A nest found May 22, 1911, at Bayou Labatre contained 9 

 eggs on the point of hatching. At Mobile, May 30, an old rail 

 with a brood of tiny young was seen in the marsh opposite 

 the city, and on Dauphin Island, May 19, 1911, a half-grown 

 young one was collected. 



General habits. — Clapper rails are essentially birds of the 

 sea coast and in the United States are never found far from 

 salt water. Their loud, cackling notes frequently may be 

 heard, but the birds are very loath to take wing, preferring 

 to escape by running in and out among the dense tangle of 

 rushes, where it is impossible to be seen. Occasionally one 

 may be seen, however, as it flies across a bayou and drops 

 again into the marsh, or more rarely one may be flushed at 

 close quarters. The nests are placed in rushes, built up about 

 a foot above the water on a solid foundation of dead vegeta- 

 tion. 



Food habits. — This species feeds on small crabs, snails, 

 shrimp, shellfish, minnows, aquatic insects, and the young of 

 the diamond-back terrapin.t The stomachs of 7 specimens 

 taken in Alabama in May contained only remains of crabs. 



FLORIDA CLAPPER RAIL: Rallus longirostris scottii 



Sennett. 



State records. — The occurrence of the Florida clapper rail 

 in Alabama rests on the record of a single specimen collected 

 by the writer, January 27, 1912, in a marsh near the mouth 

 of Perdido Bay. This point apparently marks the western 

 limit of its range, for in other parts of this bay the Louisiana 

 clapper rail is the prevailing form. 



VIRGINIA RAIL: Rallus virginianus Linnaeus. 



State records. — The Virginia rail occurs as a migrant and 

 probabiy as a winter visitant, but records of it are very 

 limited. At Leighton, in September or October, 1901, sev- 

 eral individuals were shot in tall grass in a pasture (McCor- 



tSiimnons, G. F., The Auk, vol. 31, pp. 880-381. 1914. 



