Appendix 1— Methods of Capturing for 



Banding 



Most of the King Rails captured for banding have been taken in 

 traps or with long-handled dip or clap nets. A few downy young 

 have been caught by hand. Some King Rails are inadvertently caught 

 in the course of trapping ducks. 



TYPES OF CAPTURING DEVICES 

 Long-handled dip or clap net 



This device is very effective in capturing King Rails on nests. Traps 

 equipped with drift fences and placed in breeding territories will 

 also capture rails during the nesting season as the birds wander 

 about their territories. However, in such situations, where only one 

 or two birds are involved, long-handled nets are more efficient because 

 of the time required to install traps. Most incubating King Rails 

 can be approached closely enough to be caught on a first attempt. The 

 long-handled net I use has a bamboo handle TV^ feet in length, a 

 hoop 2 feet in diameter, and a net 3 feet in depth. 



Nest traps are effective in catching incubating King Rails, but 

 are time-consuming to construct and are probably no more effective 

 than long-handled nets. Blandin (1936, p. 62-63) described a nest trap 

 for the Clapper Rail, a species that flushes more readily from the 

 nest than does the King Rail. 



All-purpose or cloverleaf trap 



As nearly as I can ascertain, this is the type of trap most often 

 used for capturing King and Clapper Rails (figs. 36 and 37). Seth 

 H. Low (1935, p. 16-20) originally designed this trap for catching 

 shore birds for banding. He used long leads or drift fences placed 

 at right angles to the trap and running up to the trap entrance. Robert 

 E. Stewart (1954, p. 1) caught nearly 1,000 Clapper Rails with this 

 type of trap at Chincoteague, Va., and designed a very effective gather- 

 ing cage that prevents rails from getting back into the trap (fig. 37). 

 The effectiveness of Stewart's design is due to a ramp that begins at 

 the opening at ground level and runs toward the top and rear of the 

 cage. When a rail reaches the top of the ramp it drops down into a 

 small chamber where it is well contained and easily retrieved. 



The all-purpose trap used by Stewart and other Patuxent Wildlife 

 Research Center biologists is about 61/^ feet in length. Each of the two 



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