CLAPPER RAIL 



nests, were strewed along the shore. This last circumstance proves 

 how strong the ties of maternal aifection is in these birds ; for of 

 the great numbers which I picked up and opened, not one male 

 was to be found among them; all were females! Such as had not 

 yet begun to sit probably escaped. These disasters do not prevent 

 the survivors from recommencing the work of laying and building 

 anew; and instances have occurred where their eggs have been 

 twice destroyed by the sea; and yet in two weeks the eggs and 

 nests seemed as numerous as ever. 



The young of the Clapper Rail very much resemble those of 

 the Virginian Rail, except in being larger. On the tenth of August 

 I examined one of these young Clapper Rails, caught among the 

 reeds in the Delaware, and apparently about three weeks old ; it 

 was covered with black down, with the exception of a spot of 

 white on the auriculars, and a streak of the same along the side 

 of the breast, belly, and fore part of the thigh ; the legs were 

 of a blackish slate color; and the bill was marked with a spot 

 of white near the point, and round the nostril. These run with 

 great facility among the grass and reeds, and are taken with ex- 

 treme difficulty. 



The whole defence of this species seems to be in the nervous 

 vigour of its limbs, and thin compressed form of its body, by which 

 it is enabled to pass between the stalks of grass and reeds with 

 great rapidity. There is also every where among the salt marshes 

 covered ways under the flat and matted grass, through which the 

 Rail makes its way like a rat, without a possibility of being seen. 

 There is generally one or more of these from its nest to the water 

 edge, by which it may escape unseen; and sometimes, if closely 

 pressed, it will dive to the other side of the pond, gut, or inlet, 

 rising and disappearing again with the silence and celerity of 

 thought. In smooth water it swims tolerably well, but not fast ; sit- 

 ting high in the water, with its neck erect, and striking with great 

 rapidity. When on shore, it runs with the neck extended, the tail 



