170 THE CLAPPER RAIL. 



the latter, many have been shot, and the boatmen intend to make caps of 

 their fur. 



In the Carolinas there are some most expert marksmen, of whom I know 

 two who probably were never surpassed. One of them I have seen shoot 

 fifty Marsh-hens at fifty successive shots, and the other, I am assured, has 

 killed a hundred without missing one. I have heard or read of a French 

 king, who, on starting a Partridge, could take a pinch of snuff, then point 

 his gun, and shoot the bird; but whether this be true or not I cannot say, 

 although I have witnessed as remarkable a feat, for I have seen a Carolinian, 

 furnished with two guns, shoot at and kill four Marsh-hens as they flew oif 

 at once around him! On speaking once to a friend of the cruelty of destroy- 

 ing so many of these birds, he answered me as follows: — "It gives variety 

 to life; it is good exercise, and in all cases affords a capital dinner, besides 

 the pleasure I feel when sending a mess of Marsh-hens to a friend such as 

 you." 



Clapper Rail, Rallies crepitans, Wils. Amer. Orn., vol. vii. p. 112; but not the figure, 



which is that of R. elegans. 

 Clapper Rail, Nutt. Man., vol. ii. p. 201. 

 Clapper Rail or Salt-water Marsh-hen, Rallus crepitans, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. iii. 



p. 33; vol. v. p. 570. 



Male, 15, 20f. Female, 14, 19*. 



Exceedingly abundant from Texas to New Jersey, breeding in all salt- 

 water marshes. Few proceed eastward beyond Long Island. Constantly 

 resident from the Carolinas southward. Not inland. 



Adult Male. 



Bill much longer than the head, slender, compressed, slightly curved, 

 rather deep at the base. Upper mandible with the dorsal line almost straight 

 until towards the end, where it is slightly curved, the ridge slightly flattened 

 for a short space at the base, and extending a little on the forehead, narrow 

 and convex to the end; a deep groove runs on either side parallel to the 

 ridge for two-thirds of the whole length; the edges inflected, with a very 

 slight notch close to the tip. Nostrils lateral, linear, direct, open and 

 pervious. Lower mandible with the angle very long, extremely narrow, 

 the sides erect, slightly convex, the edges inflected, the tip narrowed. 



Head small, oblong, much compressed. Neck long and slender. Body 

 slender, much compressed. Feet long; tibia bare a considerable way above 

 the joint; tarsus of moderate length, strong, compressed, and anteriorly 

 covered with broad scutella, posteriorly with smaller, and on the sides 

 reticulated. Hind toe very small and slender, middle toe longest, fourth 

 considerably shorter, and but little longer than the second; toes free, scutel- 



