THE CLAPPER RAIL. 
BY DR. E. COUES, U. 8. A. 
Tue Clapper Rail, otherwise called the Salt-water Marsh 
Hen, is a sea-side bird, inhabiting the marshes along our coast 
within reach of the tides, and rarely if ever straying inward. 
It goes as far north as Massachusetts, but only in summer, 
and is unfrequent or rare beyond the Middle States. Further 
south, however, it is one of the most abundant and character- 
istic of the maritime species. On the coast of North Car- 
olina, for instance, it breeds in countless numbers, and 
remains nearly all the year—only becoming less numerous 
in winter, or perhaps disappearing altogether for a short 
time during the coldest weather. I presume that the reader 
is so familiar with the appearance of the bird, from seeing 
stuffed specimens, that I need say nothing on this score. 
But it may not be so generally known that the young birds, 
in the downy plumage, are jet black, with a faint gloss of 
green, looking, much like newly-hatched chickens, except 
thet the bill, and especially the feet, are longer. The former 
is flesh colored, the latter are dusky. And perhaps still less 
is known of the habits of this, as well as of other rails, 
which are particularly difficult to study satisfactorily. Rails 
live hidden in the marshes, and are not very often seen ex- 
cept when they fly up; so that how they live becomes 4 
matter of some interest, as perhaps I may be able to show. 
We will begin with the eggs—omne vivum ex ovo, Says 
Linneus. 
_ I have sometimes thought that the pains odlogists fre- 
|. quently take to measure eggs in hundredths of the inch, and 
| . .. describe their shape with arhonta] exactitude, might be 
- pared for something more profitable. I was never more 

k "eda the fact that birds’ eggs vary more than is usually 

