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THE CLAPPER RAIL. 603 
of the common calamity ; and the reeds resounded with their 
hoarse cries of terror. But as the waters advanced, and 
— score after score of homes, the birds became silent 
gain as if in unspeakable misery. Driven from their 
E eias anxious or terrified, as the case might be, 
they wandered in listless dejection over beds of floating 
wrack, swam aimlessly over the water, or gathered stupefied 
in groups upon projecting knolls. Few of the old birds,. 
probably, were drowned, but most of the young must have 
perished. A dark day for the rails! 
As if to guard somewhat against such an accident, the 
rails generally build their nests around the margins of the 
marsh, or in elevated and comparatively dry spots in its 
midst, just about at the usual high water mark. The 
nest is always placed on the ground, in a bunch of reeds or 
tussock of grass, or clump of little bushes. It is an artless 
flimsy structure, made of dried grasses, or reed stalks broken 
(probably bitten) into pieces three or four inches in length, 
laid crosswise and matted together, but scarcely intertwined. 
It is simply a platform of such materials, say a foot in 
diameter, and two or three inches thick, slightly hollowed in 
the middle. Sometimes it is barely thick enough to keep 
the eggs from the wet; sometimes quite a heap of materials 
is made; this seems to depend in great measure upon the 
comparative dryness of the stustion: selected. But in any 
case the nest is so frail and so bulky that it is difficult or 
impossible to lift it up without its coming to pieces. 
The rail is not a natatorial bird properly speaking. It 
has only a very slight basal web, and no vestige of a mar- 
ginal fringe or lobe along the toes. Nevertheless, it swims 
very well, at least for short distances. I have often seen 
the birds take to the water by choice, not from necessity ; 
and noticed that they swam buoyantly, if not very fast, and 
with perfect ease; much like coots, for example. In conse- 
quence of the compressed shape of the body, they rest 
rather deeply in the water; but carry the head well elevated, 
